“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child”-Carl Jung

My family and I moved to the United States from the Philippines in April of 1986. I was just five years old at the time, unaware of the drastic change that had occurred in my family’s lives. My brothers and I attended school until the end of the school year, however, I do not remember much of my kindergarten classroom. One of my first memories of school in the United States was my first grade teacher, Mrs. Christiansen. It was an exciting moment of my life, entering first grade. I remember standing in front of my classroom with my mother, holding her hand tightly while clutching my pink “My Little Pony” lunch pail in the other hand.

Arriving at the new school, I remember looking around in wonder and amazement at all the brightly decorated walls. Mrs. Christiansen was waiting by the door welcoming all her new students inside. My brothers and I had all attended an English-taught elementary school in the Philippines so our English was fluent. Like many second language students who may be timid in expressing themselves vocally, I was quiet during my first exciting day of school. Mrs. Christiansen had filled the day with many activities including Curious George and Clifford lessons, games, and touring the school. As the days passed, I remember sitting down in a circle and talking about ways that we could all be friends in one classroom. I felt comfortable and at ease to be myself around these strangers. This fond memory remains vivid, and from this moment on, I decided that I wanted to become a teacher. Not just a teacher---but a teacher who was just like Mrs. Christiansen.

Almost 18 years later, I experienced a similar situation during my September experience in my future student teaching classroom. My cooperating teacher reminds me of Mrs. Christiansen. She welcomed all her students at the door every day and she planned days that were filled with many engaging activities, that welcomed all the students into this community. Both Mrs. Christiansen and my cooperating teacher created and provided a caring and nurturing environment in which all students could grow and develop. Mrs. Christiansen’s class, like my cooperating teacher’s classroom was very diverse, and these two teachers established a positive learning environment from the very beginning of the school year. These early experiences in my own education, as well as the environment that was established in my student teaching classroom, have planted and nurtured the seeds of my core teaching beliefs.

I believe that being an educator is a moral endeavor. As Carl Jung states in the above quote, a teacher’s warmth encourages students to grow and develop. As a teacher, the relationships that I establish with my students are crucial in supporting their emotional and academic growth. As a teacher, I have the responsibility of not only teaching children well, but also teaching children to become active, participating citizens in our society. My elementary classroom will serve as a platform for this teaching and learning. As my principal states, “Elementary school is very much a social and emotional developmental process as well as one of academic growth. As a learning community of students, parents and staff, we are all responsible for making the community supportive for all areas of growth,” (Peiffer, 2004). As a teacher, my classroom will be an environment that adapts for all my students’ individuality, an environment in which my students develop character and form a community in which their voices are heard and appreciated. Thus, my three guiding beliefs as a teacher are: creating a safe a positive learning environment; recognizing and respecting my students as individual learners and having engaging, challenging and purposeful instruction.

Creating a safe and positive environment.

I believe that in order for any type of learning to occur, children first and foremost must feel comfortable and safe. I will strive to create a positive learning environment that encourages my students to work effectively as individuals and in groups. My future classroom will promote supportive social interactions, collaboration, active engagement in learning, and self-regulated learning. Children must feel that their classroom is a place where they belong, as they feel supported by their peers when they take risks and contribute to discussions. One of my responsibilities as a teacher is to provide an environment in which students’ basic needs are met. Jones and Jones (2001) write, “Students behave appropriately and learn more effectively in environments that meet their basic personal and psychological needs. All students learn best in school settings in which they are comfortable and feel safe and accepted” (Jones and Jones, 2001, p. 125). I will create a physical environment that allows students to feel safe to participate. For example, my students will be seated in groups to foster a collaborative and cooperative environment. I feel that students learn so much from another that it is crucial for them to be able to interact with one another to foster this learning. Additionally, I believe that students are able to develop emotionally through their social relationships with peers.

During my student teaching experience, I was able to observe first hand how teachers can establish a nurturing learning community. According to Sapon-Shevin (1999), “A nurturing community is a place where it is safe to be yourself. A safe, secure community allows for growth and exploration” (Sapon-Shevin, 1999, p. 87). In my future classroom, I will have an environment that fosters student growth in all areas-academically, socially, emotionally and physically. I want my students to feel comfortable to participate in all aspects of the school day. I want my students to feel comfortable making mistakes and learning from their mistakes. As their teacher, my role is to nurture students to develop as individuals who will become active and participating citizens in our society.

Recognizing and respecting my students as individual learners.

Through establishing a safe and comfortable environment, I also acknowledge that my students are unique learners. In order to build a classroom in which all children feel they belong, it is essential that every child has a “voice”. Through social circles occurring throughout the year, my students are able to have their voices heard, listened and appreciated. In my classroom, each of my students is going to be recognized and respected for his or her own special talents and what he or she can contribute to the overall learning community. Throughout the school year, students will be supported in expressing their ideas, thus developing their own “voices” in the classroom.

In addition to recognizing that each student is an individual, I must recognize that each child has individual needs. As their teacher, I will create opportunities for all students to be successful and I will ensure that education is accessible to all. Through differentiated instruction, I will to make the curriculum accessible. During my student teaching experience, I was able to teach using differentiated instruction because of the range of students’ abilities that were present in my classroom. As a result of my special education experience in the Special Education/Teacher Education Program, I was able to modify instruction to accommodate learners with special needs in my classroom as well as accommodate those students who needed a more challenging task. I used formal and informal assessments as an instructional tool as well as a monitoring tool for my students, which I will continue to do in my own classroom. Children are individuals who all have individual needs. As their teacher, it is my responsibility to be aware of these needs and do my best in meeting them.

Engaging, challenging and purposeful instruction.

While student teaching, I was able to write narrative learning objectives. Writing narrative learning objectives allowed me to reflect not only on what I wanted my students to learn, but also how I would, as their teacher, guide them in the learning process. During student teaching, I created lesson plans that were both engaging and challenging for all my students, and that featured purposeful using narrative learning objectives. In my future classroom, I will instill in my students that what they are doing in school is relevant to their lives. I will spend time with my students discussing ways in which they are able to use these skills in the future as they get older and continue with their education beyond elementary school.

I will motivate my students with lessons that will engage them in learning each subject. Rather than scripting my lessons with every detail, I will provide opportunities and experiences that my students will remember and encourage flexibility to address their own interests. I will create instruction that is challenging for all my students so they are able to problem-solve with one another find effective solutions. Through Vygotsky’s theory of gradual release of responsibility, I will provide appropriate modeled, guided and independent practice opportunities to my students. By having engaging, challenging and purposeful instruction, students will become accountable for their own learning and success in school. Additionally, creating and conducting assessments that are authentic and equitable along with instruction provides a measurement of student progress, as well as my instructional methods.

Schools serve as places in which students are given skills to develop emotionally, socially and academically that allow them to become part of the larger community outside of school. “Schools must contribute to the social and emotional development of the child if they are to fulfill their function of education for life in a democratic community and for fruitful family life” (Bruner, 1977). My role as their teacher is to foster an environment in which students are able to grow and develop. By creating a positive learning environment, recognizing and respecting my students as individual learners, and providing engaging, challenging and purposeful instruction for all my students, I will ensure their successes and triumphs. In my future classroom, these core beliefs will be demonstrated daily through my classroom management, lessons, assessments and overall learning environment.