I strongly believe that children are our future and that each and every child had something unique and special to offer to the world. I believe that each child has vast potential and that it is my role as an educator to support and help all of my students reach and exceed this potential. I feel that this can be accomplished through believing in my students and seeing them as capable individuals who are able to form and cultivate their own opinions, beliefs and ideas.

I have high expectations for all of my students and firmly believe that they can (and will) learn at high levels regardless of their background or personal challenges. I know that it is my responsibility as a teacher to help my students to achieve this level of learning, and I will do this through building strong, caring relationships with all of my students. I believe in promoting critical thinking and inquiry based learning through providing enactive, enriching, and character building activities to help my students achieve the learning goals that they have set for themselves.

I believe that children are best able to succeed and learn in a positive, safe environment that supports risk-taking and invites the open sharing of ideas. In order to achieve this I believe that it is important for me to act as a guide, to allow the students curiosity to drive the learning and to promote a world where people learn to respect, accept and embrace the differences amongst all living things. Each student enters the classroom with their own set of beliefs and values, which influence their world-view. I respect this world-view and expect them to respect the world-views of others. I believe that all educators should be socially and emotionally competent themselves and should foster social and emotional learning within their students.

As a teacher I am also a learner who can learn just as much from my students as my students can learn from me. I wish to inspire my students and to promote a life long love of learning through developing a curriculum that is based on student interest, fosters intrinsic motivation, and stimulates the passion to learn. I believe that if my students are not successful, than I am not successful and that effective learning requires a genuine collaboration between the teacher, students, and parents.

I believe that I owe it to myself, and to my students, to never stop reflecting on and adapting my teaching philosophy and to become the best educator that I can be.

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all”

– Aristotle