Educational Philosophy

Besides providing students with the fundamentals of education, I want to help children achieve their own definition of success, help open their minds to new ideas or adventures, and give them a safe space to explore themselves. 
I believe to achieve these goals, a teacher must be adaptable, compassionate, and have effective communication skills. Adaptability is crucial within teaching as every student is unique and lesson plans may not always occur as assumed. Teachers are responsible for ensuring a lesson considers all students, which requires choice, modification, or accommodations to foster individual success. As well, teachers need to be prepared to teach the unit / lesson but be open for change within the lesson to occur based on students interests, understanding, or mundane situations. Compassion is essential to build connections with students and truly care about one’s profession. Teachers are more than curriculum educators, as they promote social-emotional, behaviour, and physical learning. For some students, the school will be their safe place and a teacher must be prepared to help guide that student as best as possible, which requires compassion. Lastly, effective communication skills re necessary for a teacher to develop open communication with students, parents / guardians, and colleagues. I need to communicate the expectations, curriculum, and kindness to my students, and I need to have multiple, effective ways to do so. Also, I value the relationships with students’ parents / guardians and want to develop a communication channel that allows parents / guardians to feel involved in their child’s various successes and development. As a school community member, communication with colleagues is essential to build a strong, supportive community. I believe in supporting one’s colleagues to further trust and opportunities for professional development by learning from others. 
Professional development is a personal value of mine because I believe there is always something new to be learned. Research, curriculums, and various strategies (example: behaviour or teaching) are constantly changing and improving. Challenging yourself to learn something new about education will help improve your toolkit and influence your teaching philosophy. Teaching is everchanging and we build value within a school community by sharing our knowledge, ideas, and involving ourselves in active professional development. 
I value the importance of an inclusive classroom that allows children to be accepted and represented within their environment. An inclusive classroom provides the opportunity for all students to achieve success, through support, understanding, and respect. Students should feel represented and proud of their identity when entering school, regardless of culture, ethnicity, exceptionalities, gender, or sexuality. It is important to celebrate our diversity but not make a student feel isolated. For example, a strategy to help students with a language impairments is to print documents on blue paper. Instead of only giving the student with dyslexia blue paper, provide all students with the blue paper. The classroom environment, as well as the school, should be designed to promote success, curiosity, and understanding through lessons, interactions, and the physical set-up. In addition, our environments should also be adaptable to meet the needs of students. 
It is my goal to ensure I am meeting my students’ needs. My students do not need to meet my needs, besides following the classroom rules of respect and acceptance to all. I need to design and promote an inclusive classroom that values kindness and respect while operating as an adaptable environment (classroom layout, seating choice, multimodal learning) to ensure each student’s success.