Two of the most important values that weave themselves through my identity as an educator are balance and relationships. Balance, to me, is keeping everything in perspective and demonstrating that there is rarely one perfect solution to any problem. Relationships demonstrate how everything is connected – content areas, my students, their parents, me, the classroom environment, the school itself, and the list continues. Both balance and relationships are vital to whom I am as a teacher, and both play themselves out through my beliefs about the purposes of education and assessment and what my classroom and teaching will look and sound and feel like.
Education is such a powerful tool, and many people around the world would sacrifice so much to …show more content…
I want my students to be passionate about learning and growing intellectually; I want my students to crave that feeling that comes when they make connections or a concept finally “clicks”. I want my students to recognize and respect the humanity in every single individual, no matter the differences that may superficially separate us. I want my students to develop the skills they need to function in the world – everything from study skills to how to truly listen to how to regulate themselves emotionally to how to handle conflict to how to ask for and where to look for help. All of these things I want, all these desires for my students, are what I believe a quality education should provide children.
We need to educate each aspect of the whole child, balancing each aspect of each child and educating it all. Is this a tall order? Of course, and I am not saying that we can do it all perfectly every day. My phenomenal teacher education program did not teach me how to be superhuman, and I am relatively sure that no program out there has a course in superhuman abilities. What matters is that we try to find that balance with all aspects of our students, teaching them all to be the wonderful humans and learners that we know they are capable of
Education is such a powerful tool, and many people around the world would sacrifice so much to …show more content…
I want my students to be passionate about learning and growing intellectually; I want my students to crave that feeling that comes when they make connections or a concept finally “clicks”. I want my students to recognize and respect the humanity in every single individual, no matter the differences that may superficially separate us. I want my students to develop the skills they need to function in the world – everything from study skills to how to truly listen to how to regulate themselves emotionally to how to handle conflict to how to ask for and where to look for help. All of these things I want, all these desires for my students, are what I believe a quality education should provide children.
We need to educate each aspect of the whole child, balancing each aspect of each child and educating it all. Is this a tall order? Of course, and I am not saying that we can do it all perfectly every day. My phenomenal teacher education program did not teach me how to be superhuman, and I am relatively sure that no program out there has a course in superhuman abilities. What matters is that we try to find that balance with all aspects of our students, teaching them all to be the wonderful humans and learners that we know they are capable of