As each new year begins and students come into my classroom, I want them to feel as thought they are part of a community that trusts and respects each other, the teacher and others that enter the classroom. Students need to feel as though they have ownership in their environment and their learning. It is essential to collaborate with students and construct clear and reasonable expectations and rules in order to make the environment everything that it needs to be for each student to achieve. Students will have a voice in deciding on behaviors in the classroom as we work together to develop a strong classroom community with which there is satisfaction of all members. Together, students and teacher need to decide how the classroom will work, what consequences will be made for certain actions and how these consequences will be implemented. I feel that every child has the ability to learn and it is my job to guide them through the path of life in order to achieve successfully in their learning. I will design my classroom to be student centered, clear and individualized to accommodate each student and their cognitive, social, behavioral, emotional and physical needs.
I truly believe that students success in my own classroom can not be labeled with a letter or a number. I feel that this �grading� system is damaging to all students. In order to assess my students, I believe in alternative assessments such as students self-assessment/rubrics where students will become in tune with their own learning and portfolio assessment that will show students progress through their educational journey. I feel that these forms of assessment demonstrate a better view of students success in school.
In order to make the education process complete; students need to have social interactions with each other. I feel that students learn best when they are around their peers. In the real world it is idealistic to be working with people, whether they like or do not like people. What better way to get our students ready for the world beyond school then to provide them with social interactions among their peers in the educational setting where they can develop team building, organization, leadership and cooperative skills.
Finally, I believe that a teachers learning is never complete. Teachers are life long learners. As each year come and goes, experiences and newly gained knowledge will be passed on. As a teacher, I will enhance my classroom and my teaching to the continuation of learning through years to come.
