Classroom
Environment
I believe that children, in
order to learn, need a permissive loving environment where they can feel safe
and secure in themselves as well as in their surroundings. I believe that
children are born with an innate goodness and the negative behaviors are learned
and can be unlearned. I teach my students to be aware of others feelings
and to respect their classmates. I also teach my students that everyone is
vulnerable in some areas and that not everyone is perfect. They are aware
of and support their classmates who have learning and/or behavior troubles.
My students are taught to have compassion for others and understand that we are
all different and special in our own ways. Teachers should exhibit
compassion, patience and proper modeling of self-control towards all students.
Classroom
Management
It is my belief that in order to
provide the proper learning environment, teachers must first have proper
classroom management. Teachers should have a good rules, rewards, and
consequences system as well as appropriate procedures for all daily routines.
I feel that overall, the key to good management is consistency in using
procedures and more importantly, in discipline. As a teacher, I strive
hard toward maintaining consistency in my discipline. I have rules,
rewards, and consequences posted in my class and refer to them often with the
goal of reminding the children of expected behaviors. I also have
established procedures and practice them often. My students are well
informed as to what is expected of them, their behavior and their actions.
Classroom
Learning
I believe that all children have
the ability and capacity to learn but not all children learn in the same way.
Teachers need structured lessons that incorporate many different learning styles
including visual, auditory and tactile-kinesthetic. Teachers should be
aware of the multiple intelligences and be able to identify the best ways of
reaching their students. Teachers must be aware of and do everything
possible to meet the individual student needs in the academic, physical and
social aspects. In planning, I strive to incorporate different learning
styles in each of my lessons. I regularly attend workshops to keep abreast
of new techniques and ideas. I believe in progressive education where
students are exposed to cooperative learning, hands-on activities, structured
lessons, use of the senses and learning through experiences. I feel that
these are the best ways to foster a love of learning and make learning
meaningful and long-lasting. I make it a top priority to effectively plan
and teach lessons that incorporate each of these attributes.
