When thinking about my beliefs as a teacher I know that these statements are a guideline. I realize that as I continue to grow and transform as a teacher that these will constantly be molded, but the core belief of each will always be there in some way.
I believe that children should all be treated equally. That sounds like it should be a given for teachers, but I hear many negative things about children. In my eyes I do not want to focus on labels or disabilities, but I want to focus on the overall abilities, gifts, and personalities of each individual child. All of my future students will be educated in the same exact way.
I believe that my classroom is like a habitat. In my individual classroom environment I want my students to feel extremely comfortable expressing their own opinions and feelings towards a subject. I hope to make all students feel welcome and safe in my classroom.
I value a love of learning and hope to ignite that within all children to some extent. I know that I have mastered my job if I can teach children to question the world, be curious, and love to learn.
I value building relationships by teaching. The teaching community is like a network of educators who are hopefully all trying to reach the same goal. I want to build relationships with my students, parents, and colleagues. I feel this is a critical element!
I value the responsibility of caring for young children. I know that in this job I have to teach my standards, but most importantly I need to be the greatest role model that I can be for young children. As a Pre-K through 6th grade teacher I know that this is a vulnerable time for children, so it is that much more important that I always be a great model.
I believe in enthusiasm. I feel very strongly that by having a positive and enthusiastic attitude anything is possible.
Relating to that, I believe that a teacher must always have goals. I know that as a teacher I will always have a goal that I am working towards. It is always important to me to know my next goal before I finish the current goal. Without always constantly striving towards a new goal I will not change as a teacher.
I expect to always transform. I always want to continue learning and growing to always be a great teacher. Without being willing to change and transform when needed I will not give my students the best education that they deserve.
I realize this will be a challenging job and I value that. Without challenges I would never push myself. I know that a teacher wears many different hats and it will be hard. At the end of the day all of my hard work will be worth it.