My personal philosophy of teaching is that all students are capable of advancing their understanding in an environment that promotes learning and encourages risk taking.  I believe that my students are capable of becoming anything they want to become.  As an educator, I aim to promote a fun, student-centered environment that promotes practical application and teamwork so that students learn while having fun in a social environment.  I have high expectations for all of my students, and my expectations are clearly stated so that nobody accepts mediocrity.  I believe that as an educator the best way to foster a lifestyle of learning is to show students that they are capable of taking on any challenges that arise and allow them to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from every experience.

 An important aspect that fosters fun and learning in my classroom is conversation.  I encourage peer discussion and interaction with partner games and group centers.  During certain times, I encourage group play that centers on a current event or concept we are learning.  The alternative to group work would be individual activities or worksheets.  I see no benefit from a student sitting alone churning through piles of worksheets.  Instead, I find that they are willing to work harder and longer with a better retention rate while operating in a group setting. I particularly enjoy the “a-ha!” moment a student experiences when they ‘get it’ for the first time.  I love watching a student as their face lights up, their jaw drops, and they begin laughing as a difficult concept clicks into place.  I also love the look on their faces when a traditional concept becomes fun.  

My teaching philosophy is shown in my teaching style through my practical application of our concepts to real-world problems.  If I believe my students can be anything in the world, they must know how to adapt the things they learn to the problems they will face in the world.  While a concept may have a paper-and-pencil workflow, I find a way to incorporate it into real-world problems so that students have the “why” to go with the “what” they are learning.  By allowing students to apply concepts to the real world, they also learn to take risks and try things that may or may not work.  Allowing students to process problems in a brand new way also reinforces their love of learning in the same way that having fun does.  I find that my students enjoy using the concepts they learn to solve problems, especially in groups, so they end up having more fun and the cycle continues.  Finally, my teaching style is shown through the high expectations I hold for each student.  My students know that I expect progress in all areas.  I do not place unreachable benchmarks, but instead I allow students to be active in setting their goals and I expect them to reach those goals.  When expectations are not met, my students are taught to take an active role in assessing what happened.  I have found that students perform very well when they are involved in the goal setting and expectations are high for them to succeed.