Philosophy of Education

    My goal for my future classroom is to provide engaging learning opportunities and positive relationships within the classroom environment. Through my journey at Northern Arizona University and my experiences in different classrooms, I have observed that students learn best when they are comfortable with their peers and feel supported by their teacher. It is crucial to demonstrate effective classroom management for students to have mutual respect between their peers and teacher. 

    It is important to establish positive relationships to build a welcoming classroom environment because I want students to feel confident in volunteering and participating in group discussions. Over the summer, I teach at a summer school for fifth through eighth-grade students, and established one of the biggest goals in my future classroom is for students to embrace mistakes. Last summer, I taught a math lesson on multiplication and showed them different methods rather than just memorizing. I began to see students grow confident in the skills they once saw as weaknesses and felt comfortable answering questions in class. When answering questions in class, students pointed out their own mistakes and were not embarrassed. I want students in my future classroom to feel confident in their academic abilities and establish an inclusive classroom environment for all students to share their ideas. 

    My teaching philosophy also focuses on building intrinsic motivation by providing meaningful feedback and having small-group instruction to help struggling students by learning styles that help them learn best. My goal is to create a student-centered classroom where students use portfolio-based assessments and are able to present their work to their guardians during parent-teacher conferences. Within my classroom management, I want to incorporate a token economy where students learn about money management and prepare for a classroom job. In a token economy, students will have classroom jobs to earn a paycheck, rent their desks, and on Fridays can spend their money on incentives. I want students to build responsibility and understanding as they apply these strategies to their futures.

    As a future educator, I am a lifelong learner and learning how to become the best educator I can be for my future students. Rita Pierson once said, “Every child deserves a champion–an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.” I strive to be the teacher that inspires, like many of my teachers have for me.