Philosophy of Education My philosophy of education begins with a love for people.

It is my desire to make each and every child who walks through the door of my classroom feel important. I will make a practice of taking a sincere interest in each child, and encouraging my students to do the same for each other, thus creating and cultivating a classroom community that makes each child feel safe and secure. Students who come into an environment each day in which they feel respected, safe, and loved are free to learn and apply their best efforts in all endeavors. It is my desire that my students know I love them, and because of that love, I hold high expectations of them. I will communicate those high expectations not from a place of unrealistic demand, but from a place of belief that all my students can and will succeed, according to each of their abilities and varied learning styles. I will differentiate instruction for all students, knowing all students learn in different ways and at different rates. I will be sensitive and reflective in my practices, to ensure I am providing opportunities for all students to succeed. I believe wholeheartedly that multiple intelligences exist in this world of individuals. I will celebrate the variety of strengths in my classroom, and will design engaging curriculum that gives each student a chance to succeed in his or her preferred modality. I will require, however, that all students engage completely in all lessons and activities, regardless of their learning preferences. It is important for students to understand that stretching beyond ones comfort zone is an exercise in character development, and I always want to teach life lessons.

As a modern and progressive educator, I will adhere to best practices in education, always taking advantage of opportunities to learn how to become better at my practice. I will design lessons with inquiry-based learning in mind, because I believe students learn best when given authentic experiences with which to synthesize the information they are given. In my lesson design, I will give careful thought to guiding students to curiosity, knowing that curiosity will lead to thoughtful questioning, thoughtful questioning will lead to hypothesizing, hypothesizing will lead to experimentation, and the results of experimentation will require reflection. This is how students learn, and it is my utmost desire to teach them how to learn, so they can begin discovering new information for themselves. I will see myself as a facilitator, rather than a lecturer. I will always see myself as a learner in the process of educating students. I will use ongoing, formative assessment alongside my teaching, to ensure I am adapting my instruction to meet the needs of my students. I will reflect on data from formative assessment to guide my instruction, and to provide me with information I will need in planning intervention with struggling students. I also believe in the importance of summative assessment in evaluation of student mastery of the objectives and standards at hand. In conclusion, my philosophy of education reflects my desire to be a mentor to my students, to approach my position as an opportunity to influence the whole child, and therefore help to mold my students into better people, who will one day make a positive impact on the world. I will accomplish this by cultivating a community with mutual respect, by designing meaningful, engaging

curriculum, and by building bridges across subject areas, so that my students will develop a love for learning that transcends their years in school, and fosters a lifelong passion for discovery.