TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

I believe that as an educator, it is my job to prepare the learners of today and leaders of tomorrow to be critical-thinking, empathetic, strong willed individuals who will be the driving force of positive change in the ever changing world around them. In order to meet that goal, it is imperative that I provide them with the skills and strategies required to analyze and adjust said world, with a focus on operating through kindness and positivity. After 180 days in my classroom, my hope is that each student is able to walk out of my door confident in themselves, their future, and how they can utilize their connection to the world to make it better. 

I am a firm believer in the phrase actions speak louder than words, and I try to demonstrate the traits I deem important for my students to exhibit by modeling those behaviors in my own life. As an educator, I wear many hats: teacher, listener, learner, shoulder to cry on, stand up comic, rule enforcer, nagging mother, and counselor, to name a few. In everything, the one understanding that shines through all of my personas is this: be kind. My students know that I do not accept unkind words or actions in my classroom, and a few weeks after the school year begins, my students refuse to accept them, too. 

One of the most important jobs that a teacher must undertake is creating an environment in which students feel safe. Safe to take academic risks, safe to creatively problem solve, and safe to fail. To really meaningfully fail. For, I also believe that the most important lessons in life come from failing, and learning to adapt your response through a lens of positive growth. Students should find joy in learning, as research suggests that humans do their best learning when they are enjoying themselves. As a teacher of English Language Arts and a lover of cheesy humor, I utilize every opportunity to instill in my students not only a love of reading a variety of texts, but in finding the humor in those texts and in life in general. One of my favorite aspects of any given day is the excitement that my students exhibit when walking into my classroom and searching for “the joke of the day” -- a pun written on the white board below the date. Our entrance ritual is for them to write the joke down and in writing explain what word play is being used and why someone might find it funny. We’re only four weeks into the school year and many of my students walk in, immediately look at the joke, audibly groan, and say “Mrs. Price, I get it but your jokes are so cringy!” When students are able to find joy in learning, to see failure as an opportunity, and to view life through a lens of wonder and awe, they will be able to accomplish whatever definition of success that they strive towards. 

Over the last four years, I can honestly say that I have learned more than I had in the previous 27. I have become a relationship building and behavior management guru, expert in routines, differentiation, and accommodation, and am a culturally responsive teaching specialist. However, I am first and foremost a lifelong learner. I see myself in every student who walks into my classroom, and I will spend the rest of my career searching out best practices and resources to provide to them the best education that I possibly can.