First Pass at an Educational Philosophy

I feel that the environment that a teacher creates is essential to successful student learning. I want to create a warm and inviting environment...not just for students, but for their parents as well. In order to do that I want my students to know that I am there for them and that I care about them. It is important to make a personal connection with each and every child that you come in contact with in your classroom. I want to know about their interests, family and home life. Those connections may be the only thing that keeps a student as your ally and not your enemy.

To me teaching, schooling and learning are three different things. I believe that teaching is more of a sharing of knowledge and information between a student and a teacher, a teacher and a student. Schooling, to me is more of the actual place that you go to teach and learn. Learning is the actual knowledge that you acquire and take with you into your future. I believe that we are all teachers, students included, and learners and we will always be.

In my future, I would like to teach middle school. This is such a critical age for kids. They don't know who they are, or even what they want to be. There are too few "teachers" that really like this age of kids. I think that kids this age are still young enough to be influenced by positive role models and old enough to begin to make decisions that will effect their entire lives. It is our job, as educators, to guide them towards positive choices without being judgemental or overpowering. Middle school age kids have begun to see teachers not so much as heroes, but as real people. In turn, these kids really just want to be treated like real people. They want to be treated with the same respect and dignity that we expect to be treated with as adults. I think that I have the passion and commitment that it takes to teach these kids.