Have you ever felt like you couldn’t be yourself because you were afraid of being judged or being labeled “different”? I remember myself encountering many situations like this in elementary, middle, or even high school years, when “being cool” had to be a certain way. I almost felt like I had to become a chameleon just to be cool. But one year this all changed. Being different suddenly became interesting and cool. You know why? Because our teacher decided to acknowledge these “differences” as an amazing skill in front of everyone. He made us feel safe to share our little quirks. Now that was fun.

So here is one of my basic teaching philosophy – to foster confident individuals regardless of their differences. It is also worth mentioning that by confident I don’t mean confident in a “I am the best” kind of way. I want these individuals to understand emotions of others and be respectful of their differences too.

Sensitivity towards diversity, I believe, cannot be taught through textbooks. It has to be lived. You start to understand the idea of diversity when you experience these things rather than just read about it. And for that opportunity to present itself, we need a safe environment. This means providing a safe classroom environment where every student from all background will feel comfortable about being themselves. There needs to be a supportive community (good peer-to-peer and teacher-to-peer relationship) where students feel inclusive and respected. It’s that strong sense of community that opens the door to individual differences.

Now, recent researches have found multiple positive outcomes regarding strong community as explained in Watkin’s article (Watkins, 2005). In order to build a strong classroom community, “forming strong and supportive relationships with teachers” (Hamre & Pianta, 2006, p.57) is important. This “allows students to feel safer and more secure in the school setting, feel more competent, make more positive connections with peers, and make greater academic gain” (Hamre &Pianta, 2006, p.57). Another importance is for the students to be able to express themselves well and present themselves as an individual. This step is important in understanding themselves, which can lead them to understanding how others can be unique as they are unique themselves. This will naturally foster respect within the classroom that can strengthen the peer-to-peer and student-to-teacher relationship. All this will then lead to one of my basic teaching philosophy of fostering confident individuals.