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When I decided to leave Corporate America and pursue an education degree and teach, I

really had no idea what I was getting into, I just knew that it was something I wanted to do. At

the beginning of this journey, I wrote my first teaching philosophy. Over the course of five years

teaching, this philosophy has remained mostly intact. I have however, grown and learned so

much from my peers, my students, and the cultures I have worked with. The one thing that still

rings true for me is, every child deserves a quality education regardless who they are or where

they come from, and children need to be held accountable for their learning but first you must

know the child. I believe that every child is a unique individual that needs a loving, caring,

secure, and stimulating environment to grow emotionally and socially. It is my goal as an

educator to help students meet these needs by giving them a classroom experience that is safe,

supports risk taking, and is inviting to all children regardless of race, religion, and

socioeconomic background.

The classroom environment needs to be inclusive and it needs to have rules and

procedures to function as a learning environment. I believe in the foundations of Harry and

Rosemary Wong. The Wongs (2005) believe that the three most important things you should

teach students during the first days of school are discipline, procedures, and routines (p. 141).

The two believe that as a teacher you should create your own discipline plan that meets you and

your students needs. This will allow students to understand what is expected of them as well as

me, the teacher. By developing rules and procedures students can be held accountable to their

learning. Along with rules and procedures, students need to trust me as a teacher, it is important

to build a relationship quickly with students to establish trust. Mark and Christine Boynton

(2005) state, “Children are more likely to be respectful when important adults in their lives
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respect them. They are more likely to care about others if they know they are cared about” (p.7).

Having student trust makes it easier to enforce rules as long as I am firm, fair, and consistent.

The environment of the classroom needs to be functional as well. Keith McBurnett

(2018) states, “Both teachers and students should be able to organize their respective spaces to

accommodate a variety of activities, including working with partners, working on small teams,

large-group collaboration, independent work, and teacher-student interaction. Learning spaces

should also allow for different visual and aural learning styles (p. 52). Group work is important

in my classroom. Students can learn equally from each other as well as their teacher. Nicole L.

Ennen, Emily Stark, and Andrea Lassiter (2015) state, “Using groups in the classroom has

proven to be an effective technique in education: past research has shown that collaborative

learning leads to higher quality learning, improved student relationships, better retention of

material, deeper understanding of course content, and higher academic performance” (p. 616).

I believe the process of learning is social. Students learn from their environment as well

as the classroom. In an article written by Sandra M, Machen, Janell D, Wilson and Charles E,

Notar (2005) the authors believe “There will always be a need to engage families and

communities as partners and that a school’s success and a community’s success are linked.

Schools need to be active partners with parents and communities” (p. 13). The authors go on to

say, “Collaboration between parents and schools has taken on increased importance as society

recognizes the need to help parents with the difficult responsibility of educating their children.

Extending efforts to build partnerships in parental involvement may spark strategies that will

benefit students” (p. 13). I whole heartedly agree with these statements. These children will have

to function as productive citizens upon completion of their education. The choices made in

school will affect them in years to come. I believe in using the community to further a child’s
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education. The community can provide insights to learning about heritage, history, and

family/community goals for improvement for the future. We are developing future citizens that

need to make decisions and live with the consequences of those decisions, and it is best to start

that understanding early.

I believe that students need to be assessed before, during, and after learning. State

standards give us a map of how to develop our lessons. Formative assessment allows me to

differentiate instruction for all learners in the classroom. Kaitlyn McGlynn and Janey Kelly

(2017) view formative assessment as “Informal assessments that can be used to check for student

understanding and to differentiate future instruction” (p. 22). The authors go on to say, “It is

important to not only assess your students, but also use the assessment data for making future

instructional decisions” (p. 22). I agree with these statements. A lesson plan is never set in

stone. One thing I have learned over the last few years is you need to change and adapt to the

students’ needs and learning in the moment. Frustrating even one student during learning can

mean a distraction to the entire class. Being able to see the mistakes in real time can change the

method of delivery and benefit students.

Over the course of eight years I have learned a lot about children, how they learn, and

how they develop. I have learned how to develop lesson plans, set up a classroom, and even

deliver instruction to an inclusive classroom. The most important thing I have learned is, all

children are different, but they all want the same thing, my love, trust, and understanding.

Providing those three simple things makes it easier to deliver the more complicated learning. I

love teaching kids, I love the ah ha moments, and I love teaching. I hope you enjoy the rest of

this project that shows what I am capable of, and what I love doing.
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References

Ennen, N.L., Stark, E., and Lassiter, A. (2015). The importance of trust for satisfaction,

motivation, and academic performance in student learning groups. Social Psychology of

Education 18(3) 615-633. doi 10.1007/s11218-015-9306-x Retrieved from

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds

Boynton, M., & Boynton, C. (2005). The Educator’s Guide to Preventing and Solving Discipline

Problems. Alexandria, VA: Assoc. for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Machen, S.M., Wilson, J.D., and Notar, C.E. (2005). Parent Involvement in the Classroom.

Journal of Instructional Psychology, 32(1), 13-16. Retrieved from

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.

McBurnett, K. (2018). Building High-Impact Learning Environments: Classroom design has

enormous impact on student progress. Principal Leadership, 18(7), 50-53. Retrieved

from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uas.alaska.edu

McGlynn, K., & Kelly, J. (2017). Using Formative Assessments to Differentiate Instruction.

Science Scope, 41(4), 22-25. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy

Wong, H.K., & Wong, R.T. (2005). The First Days of School: How to be an effective teacher.

Mountainview, CA: Harry K Wong Publications