“To teach is to touch a life forever.”  I believe these words wholeheartedly, as if my lips were the first to speak them.  They are so much more than empty words to me.  They possess meaning and purpose.  This purpose is the foundation upon which I build my desire to teach.  Teaching is the most powerful expression of love for fellow beings.  It requires a genuine desire to give of your self in order to help others, and my heart is burning with that desire.  Teaching is not a profession you enter for riches of the monetary kind.  More importantly, they are of the inner precious kind. The riches that are reaped from teaching do not bear a price tag.
         My philosophy of teaching is summarized in the above quote.  I want to make a difference in people’s lives.  I want to impart knowledge that will improve their lives and help them live happily.  In giving of myself, I help others.  That is what teaching means to me.  I aspire to prepare children for challenges they will face in their lives and provide support and encouragement for those challenges they are confronted with presently.  I want to create an awareness of the potential and ability that each and every mind possesses.  I want children to learn all that the tests hold them accountable for, not just to be promoted, but also to know the power of knowledge.  Most importantly, I hope to equip children with the belief that they are special and important individuals.  I know that goals change throughout life, but these will remain constant for me.
     School is a haven.  For many children, it is an escape from an unbearable home life and for others it is just a welcome change of pace.  I want my students to feel that my classroom is a comfortable and safe place.  I will establish this environment through loving discipline, guidance, and structure.  These things are vital in a child’s life.  They need direction and stability.  I will create a classroom environment, in which my students feel protected, supported, and respected.  Students can gain academic knowledge in any classroom.  As a teacher, I will strive to provide opportunities for my students to grow and develop as individuals, in addition to the academic aspect.  I will help them cultivate a sense of self and pride.  I will help them learn to be strong enough to depend on their selves, yet humble enough to be able to ask for and accept help.
     As individuals, we are all different.  I will teach my students to accept and appreciate diversity.  Together we will welcome new and diverse situations and learn from them.  I feel very strongly about the learning that can arise from diversity.  I will demonstrate respect for and eagerness to have diversity in my classroom.  I will approach individual differences in learning ability from the same perspective.  By using a variety of teaching strategies, I can accommodate the needs of individuals.
     I thrive on opportunities to help others.  I consider teaching to be a long-term volunteer project, in which I share my time, knowledge, and a little bit of myself. Walking away from teaching would be comparable to turning my back on the world.  That is something I am not capable of doing because it is inside of me.  Teaching is an expression of my self.  To be a teacher, you must first be a learner.  It is important to realize that even a little child has the ability to be a teacher.  I face each day eager to learn something new and share it with others.  I will never stop learning and I will never stop teaching.