“One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.”

―Malala Yousafzai

   I stumbled upon this quote and knew, just like Malala Yousafzai, I wanted to make a change and be an advocate for students.  This quote guided me to the realization that I wanted to make positive change in the world, one classroom at a time. My philosophy is to cultivate students who appreciate and value their culture and the cultures of others. My vision includes an environment in which students feel safe enough to make mistakes, so they can learn and grow together.

 

            I believe as a teacher I can facilitate not only my student’s growth in content knowledge but, also their development as a person. I believe I can do this by focusing on kindness, acceptance of diversity, and collaboration. I like to start off the school year by allowing a lot of expression, experimentation, and team building. An example of this would be doing team building games such as, two truths and a lie. I would want to do this so both the students and I could experience their strengths and weaknesses. These practices will also help me be a culturally responsive teacher. A culturally responsive teacher realizes that each student walks into the classroom with their own funds of knowledge. I look at each student’s funds of knowledge like an imaginary suitcase they bring into my class. Each suitcase holds inside experiences, language(s), and knowledge this shapes their perception of the world around them. This suitcase is important because, each student is so different and can offer something so unique to the classroom. Being a culturally responsive teacher is important to me and is why I structure the beginning of the year in this way. This will allow me to adapt each school years’ curriculum to fit each class’s, individual cultural and developmental needs.

 

 I believe that collaboration is important, especially for kids in the elementary grades. I think collaborating and helping others is a key to a successful class. I think as a teacher it should be a goal to not only help students, but to also help students help others. By working together and helping each other I believe we can achieve a great sense of community within the classroom, that fosters the education of each individual student and creates a safe environment.

 

A few qualities I endow that make me confident in my practice is my resilience, ability to collaborate effectively with others, my optimism, and my own love of learning and diversity. These traits will allow me to execute my philosophy as my resilience will help me maintain flexibility and bounce back from any issues tenaciously. My ability to collaborate effectively is important because as educators we must always learn and grow from each other. I also look forward to collaborating with future colleagues to create meaningful lessons for our students. My optimism is an important quality because it always has me looking for something positive even in the most negative scenario! My own love of learning is important because as an educator I am a life long learner and if students see that their teacher is still excited about learning new things they will begin to mirror that attitude. I also believe my love for diversity will Transcend into a positive outlook for my students. I take pride in having friends from all over the world and I would want to share this and their cultures with my students. I think will these qualities will help foster a classroom community of students who are accepting of others and willing to help each other learn and grow.

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                       - Miss Cindra Peterson