My Teaching Philosophy I believe our students are our future. Each of our students has the potential to bring something unique and special to the world. Teaching is an important and honorable occupation that demands commitment. There are miracles, learning, healing, laughter, sharing and love every day in classrooms all around the world. A teacher has the opportunity to impact on students’ lives in a positive way; this is a huge privilege that should not be taken lightly. A list of principles I would strive to uphold as a teacher: • My students and their learning are my sole focus. • Incorporate excitement into my lesson and classroom. • Make each day more meaningful than the last. • Uphold respect for the views of my students. • Maintain a positive classroom atmosphere at all times. • Never lose faith in the ability of my students. • Constantly provide intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and ensure that my students maximize their full potential. • Establish high, however not unreachable, standards and provide support to students to reach those standards. • Respect and embrace the individuality of my learners, their learning style, their culture and their community. • Create a classroom that is a welcoming, positive and fair environment where all students learn from one another and feel safe and comfortable to share their thoughts and ideas. • Embrace the constructivist learning approach which includes the following. • The teacher acting as the facilitator and the learner being active and involved. • A need to acknowledge that individual learning outcomes may be different. • Ensure deep learning is imparted rather than rote learning and my students are supported in order to make connections to understand relationships. • Provide specific and meaningful positive feedback and encouragement to my students as it is important to me that my students build up their confidence and develop intrinsic motivation. • Monitor individual student learning and plan according to the needs of individuals, groups and the whole class. • Foster independent learning. • Expect students to take responsibility for their learning. • Model what is to be expected of the students. • Create a learning environment that is serious and thoughtful, while using light humor to create a sense of community. • Support and furthering my own professional development. • Hold myself accountable to high standards of performance and continually seek improvement in present and future performance. • Make a difference in my school community by working as part of a team with my colleagues and sharing my knowledge and skills whenever I can. • ENSURE HOLISTIC LEARNING. My wish for my students is a lifetime of learning, joy, smiles, love, laughter and success