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Philosophy of Teaching

My teaching philosophy is centered around two things: maintaining clear and high expectations for all students, and modeling professionalism in as many ways possible. It is critical that all students are provided rigorous learning tasks that challenge their understanding. The process of learning new concepts is not linear for everyone - effective scaffolds, differentiation, reteaching, and extension need to be carefully planned throughout a learning sequence. The end goal, however, must remain consistent for everyone. Every day I am blown away by the accomplishments of my students and the tasks they complete when those high expectations are firm established.

If high expectations are to be anticipated by all students, I feel that professionalism needs to be modeled to build a trusting learning environment. I want my students to understand that professional attitude towards preparedness, peer-to-peer interactions, and flexibility are all a part of learning. When my students trust that they can expect professionalism from me, they begin to mirror my actions to their peers. This ripples into frequent acts of kindness, positive communication efforts, and collective cooperation - all creating an authentic classroom environment that supports learning.

As they grow, I hope my students consider how the elements of my teaching philosophy might play a positive role in the new spaces they step into. Carrying these values into a new academic environment or even a new employment position might help develop an environment much like what we create in my classroom.

What is your message to fellow educators?

My message is directed towards new teachers and those who are within the first three years of their practice. I challenge you to be rigorously intentional in all that you do for your students. Whether it be building relationships, delivering a lesson, or backwards planning for a unit sequence, it all needs to be intentional. Your students have an acute sense of your authenticity as both an instructional figure and role model. They want you to truly care about their experience in school, and can easily observe when that is lacking. This is easier said than done and requires some heavy focus during your early years, but choosing to do this will pay off.

Being intentional in all realms of your teaching practice shows your students that you are dedicated to more than just managing a classroom, you are building rapport and creating an entire culture around your expectations of investing in their education.

Carefully planning learning sequences that spiral content from previous days shows your students that you understand and are invested in the long-term process that is learning.

Genuinely greeting your students at the start of each class informs them that their presence is both valued and anticipated.

Learning and actually practicing phrases from their home languages (sometimes with failure) exemplifies that risk-taking, awareness, and acceptance are welcomed and encouraged.

Consistently addressing behavioral problems indicates that there are boundaries in your classroom, but doing so in a warm and professional manner recognizes that everyone deserves respect, even on a bad day.

All of these actions must be done intentionally, with authenticity and reliability. If you do this, you will quickly build the single most important part of an effective classroom culture — trust.

It will be a challenge and require mental tenacity, but these efforts will be seen and will ensure your students show up for themselves, especially on the days when you “just don’t have it.” Your intentionality, whose consistency builds trust and solidifies genuine relationships, will model the type of behavior that your students will exhibit when you’re having an off day. At first, it may be surprising to find that when you lack the “spark,” a student might step up and be the flame. If you forgot to print your class copies, a student may be eager to run that errand for you. When you’re a little frazzled, your students might show extra eagerness for your lesson. It will be these little moments of intentional participation when you learn that your students’ trust has evolved into their own investment in their learning and highlight the trickle-down effect of your efforts. I’m happy that I learned its value so early in my teaching practice, and I hope to pass that on to you, too.