Although my philosophy will change throughout the coming years, my past practicum and experience in the education program has fostered these following beliefs:

A perfect teacher does not exist. This is no reason to give up, but this is reminder for me to always reflect, always improve, and always welcome and work with critique.

A good teacher is efficient. An efficient teacher is one who maximizes the yield of his or her time in and out of the classroom, as well as of his or her students’ time in the classroom. Practically speaking this efficiency should present itself in well-designed formative and summative assessments: worksheets, handouts, quizzes, and tests should all be written so as to be useful to the student who keeps the handout and so as to be easily marked and understood by the teacher.

A good teacher is timely. The idea of efficiency goes hand in hand with being timely, since the ideal teacher should be punctual and keep an eye on time in the classroom. The timely teacher should also work to make good use of the time spent in homework highly beneficial for students and time spent in communication with parents.

A good teacher is compassionate. A teacher must be sensitive to a student’s situation and respond accordingly. The responsibility of the teacher consists majorly of creating a space wherein students are given the resources to learn and to teach each other. I still believe that students are able to accomplish more than what I can imagine and that my task is in part to put faith in my students’ abilities, and to instill in them the assurance to move forward in questioning and understanding the world around them.

Students should be responsible for their own work and treated with dignity, respect, and high expectations. I believe that all students can be responsible learners and will treat them accordingly in the belief that even if they do not exhibit belief in themselves or their abilities, they can rely on the fact that I will do my best to always treat them as people with immense potential, passion, and power.