About Me:
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My Philosophy
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My philosophy of instruction is one that involves not only teaching a subject that I love but also helping the child grow emotionally and intellectually. I believe that every child has the ability to learn; however, not every child has the desire to learn due to various circumstances.
Some students are accustomed to not only giving up on themselves but also on others giving up on them. I tell my students that no longer will they have a teacher that is going to give up on them and that path ended the day that they walked into my classroom. Not only that, but I will not let them give up on themselves regardless of how much they think that they hate math or how much they believe they are not good at it. We discuss goals for both math and for life and I have them write them down so that we all can celebrate together as they meet them. I share with my students a statement I heard and love which says, “I’m going to believe in you until you believe in yourself, and then I’m going to continue to believe in you.” I added to the end that I will also continue to encourage them. Reminding my students that they will continue to use the content I’m teaching now as they transition to high school and/or college is not always enough to encourage them to learn or even enjoy math. Therefore, I believe that if I share my love for math and can apply it to real world situations that it may help the students to become more interested in it themselves and also help them to understand why they must learn what it is I’m teaching. I encourage my students to tell me when they are struggling, even if means that they stop me in the middle of a sentence and say, “can you do a u-turn and catch me up.” I am always trying to find or create different strategies to teach math, especially to those that need me to do a ‘u-turn.’ Sharing my knowledge and showing the students that I care enough to do whatever it takes to help them be successful is what I believe education is truly about. |