4/30/01 Teaching Philosophy
   
    I believe that a teacher’s job is not definable by a single task or set of tasks.  We are cultivators of society, openers of minds and hearts, and facilitators of love - for learning, life, and each other.  I believe that my job will be hard, but no other profession in the world could be satisfying enough.
     I believe that knowledge is socially constructed.  Therefore, I plan to create hands-on activities, which allow students to use all of their senses to observe and experience. I will engage my students in learning with cooperative groups, in order that they may share ideas and enrich the task at hand for one another.  To further create a sense of community in my classroom and eliminate stereotypes and teasing, I want to strongly emphasize character education and help my students to become good citizens.  They will participate in activities which require them to compliment each other and see the good in everyone.
     In addition, I hope to spend a lot of time talking about multiculturalism in my classroom.  I have a background in Spanish and am therefore very interested in language and culture. I plan to pass on my knowledge of Spanish to my students and learn others alongside them. I want to discuss and celebrate other ways of life and integrate those into art, language arts, and social studies.  I would especially like to expose my students to literature that addresses multiculturalism within a literature circles unit.
     I hope to use a system of classroom management that is both positive and effective.  I would like to allow my students to help me come up with some appropriate rules for our room, as well as fair consequences for breaking those rules.  Whenever I encounter a negative behavior, my goal will be not just to punish the student for that behavior, but to change it to a positive one by trying to fulfill whatever need is behind the child’s actions whenever possible; whether it’s a little extra personal attention, or something to help them feel that they fit in, I understand that there is always a reason for misbehavior and part of my job is to get to the bottom of it rather than dealing with it on a superficial level.
     I have already created unit plans, lesson plans and many activities during my teacher education at ASU and am looking forward to putting them to good use. I consider myself a lifelong student, and part of the joy that I anticipate in the job I’ve chosen, is that I will get to learn as much from my students as they will from me. If I can make each child smile each day, I will know that I’m on the right track.