I believe that all children can
learn and have the right to receive an education where they feel challenged,
supported, and ultimately successful. The three tenets that I consider most
important in allowing children to receive such education are a commitment to high
academic and character expectations, cultivation of a strong classroom culture,
and encouragement of student understanding of classroom data.
When entering a classroom, I take
on the responsibility of pushing my scholars to their highest potential. To foster
academic excellence within my scholars, I constantly strive to challenge them,
whether this be through added rigor on assessment questions or exposure to and
instruction on subsequent grade level content. I believe that academic content
should be delivered to scholars in a student friendly manner, therefore it is
important to allow scholars to construct their own knowledge through hands on
learning. It’s further important to make all learning relevant for students, so
as a teacher I teach the “why” beyond all content so that scholars do not only
master taught concepts but are also capable of explaining the importance of
their learning.
The creation of a strong
classroom culture is extremely important to make high expectations possible.
Teachers should strive to create a strong classroom identify based on the
common goals of the students. When students are able to identify themselves as
a apart of a team in their learning environment and recognize that others are
working towards the same goals of success, they can feel comfortable about the
expectations in the classroom. The cultivation of a strong classroom culture
further allows students to feel supported, by more than just their teacher, but
also by their peers. Within my classroom, I build this strong classroom culture
through focus on college attendance. My classroom takes on the name of the
college and mascot of the school that I attended. I believe this provides
students with a common identity while also driving towards the high expectation
that scholars will attend college following high school. I further build strong
classroom culture by highlighting character traits that, if attained, can help
my scholars become well-rounded individuals.
Finally, grounding students in
classroom data is equally important in leading a successful classroom. Scholars
need to know where they stand when they enter your classroom and be able to
track their individual growth and achievement. Scholars should be able to
discuss their learning and identify their strengths and areas for growth. In
order to make this possible in a classroom, I provide scholars with visible
data tracking creating a measure of mastery for taught concepts. I recognize
that data should be something that is consistently collected and discussed in a
classroom. Further I use the information provided by my data to guide my
instruction, identifying areas requiring reteach and areas where students were
successful.
Teaching provides an opportunity
to guide students to be successful with and to become passionate about
learning. Teachers also have a responsibility to challenge and support their
scholars. I always hold my scholars to high expectations, allowing them to rise
to reach academic and social levels that they, themselves, may have regarded as
out of reach. This push towards success within a nurturing and positive
environment is what I believe creates successful students.
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