My Philosophy
I aim to help my students belong, and to question, explore, enjoy, and create the world together. My greatest challenge and greatest asset is to have students that care for each other like family. This involves empowering them to share their personal stories and connecting my lessons to their personal and communal histories, present experiences, and dreams for the future. It also means working together to complete tasks and overcome challenges to build confidence in ourselves and others, empathy, responsibility, and accountability. Additionally, because the classroom is like another family, it is critical that I communicate clearly and frequently with students’ families to ensure that we are on the same page about how they are learning and progressing and, wherever possible, to enable families to create and maintain a home conducive to learning.
I believe my students can trust me. I am a person of integrity and mercy. I strive to promote the same values and adopt the same habits within my classroom as I do in my personal life. I take it upon myself to make sure each student feels welcome and wanted in the classroom. When I look at my students at the beginning of class, I want to know how they’re feeling about life and school, to meet them where they’re at, and to attend to their needs. I want students to feel okay with making mistakes or completely revising work, knowing that it has nothing to do with their personal worth. I seek to recognize students based on their efforts and work, as I know personally the damage done by labelling and focusing on traits.
I value excellence, which means doing my best with the knowledge, skills, and resources available to me at the time. It also means analysing and reflecting upon myself and my conditions (or whatever issue I’m addressing) to identify opportunities for improvement, and then making and executing plans to improve. I want my students to value and pursue excellence as well. As motivation for this, I strive to make my lessons stimulate my students’ natural inquisitiveness and their longings for adventure, challenge, and significance. I have faith in my students and maintain high expectations of them, but also supply them with the things they need to be successful. I eagerly learn and use information and communications technology and teach my students to use it positively, competently, and creatively.
I maintain clear, open, and frequent communication with my students about all aspects of their learning. Students come with unique worldviews, knowledge, attitudes, experiences, skills, understandings, and dreams. Pre-assessment and ongoing assessment enables me to know how to come alongside them and enrich what they’ve brought to each class to further their personal growth as well as our growth as a class. While I may start primarily as a leader, I ultimately want to assume the role of facilitator and allow each student the opportunity to lead. I want them to take ownership of the classroom, make decisions about their learning, and look after the wellbeing of their classmates.
School does not prepare students for ‘the real world’; they already exist in the real world, and the knowledge, skills, and attitudes I help them develop enables them to interact with all aspects of their world in each moment. I believe that students are valuable members of their community, so I strive to connect them with their community and vice versa by inviting guests into the class, by taking learning outside the classroom, and by making student activities relevant to their community.
I believe my students can trust me. I am a person of integrity and mercy. I strive to promote the same values and adopt the same habits within my classroom as I do in my personal life. I take it upon myself to make sure each student feels welcome and wanted in the classroom. When I look at my students at the beginning of class, I want to know how they’re feeling about life and school, to meet them where they’re at, and to attend to their needs. I want students to feel okay with making mistakes or completely revising work, knowing that it has nothing to do with their personal worth. I seek to recognize students based on their efforts and work, as I know personally the damage done by labelling and focusing on traits.
I value excellence, which means doing my best with the knowledge, skills, and resources available to me at the time. It also means analysing and reflecting upon myself and my conditions (or whatever issue I’m addressing) to identify opportunities for improvement, and then making and executing plans to improve. I want my students to value and pursue excellence as well. As motivation for this, I strive to make my lessons stimulate my students’ natural inquisitiveness and their longings for adventure, challenge, and significance. I have faith in my students and maintain high expectations of them, but also supply them with the things they need to be successful. I eagerly learn and use information and communications technology and teach my students to use it positively, competently, and creatively.
I maintain clear, open, and frequent communication with my students about all aspects of their learning. Students come with unique worldviews, knowledge, attitudes, experiences, skills, understandings, and dreams. Pre-assessment and ongoing assessment enables me to know how to come alongside them and enrich what they’ve brought to each class to further their personal growth as well as our growth as a class. While I may start primarily as a leader, I ultimately want to assume the role of facilitator and allow each student the opportunity to lead. I want them to take ownership of the classroom, make decisions about their learning, and look after the wellbeing of their classmates.
School does not prepare students for ‘the real world’; they already exist in the real world, and the knowledge, skills, and attitudes I help them develop enables them to interact with all aspects of their world in each moment. I believe that students are valuable members of their community, so I strive to connect them with their community and vice versa by inviting guests into the class, by taking learning outside the classroom, and by making student activities relevant to their community.