I believe we can all think back to a time when a teacher touched our lives and made us feel special, brilliant, or loved. It’s equally easy to remember the teachers who brought negativity into the classroom or made a stinging comment that stuck with us through life.
With this awareness, and keeping in mind the immense responsibility and power teachers naturally hold as authority figures, role models, and care-givers, I have developed the following core beliefs about working with children, regardless of context:
- Meet each child where they are, regardless of educational history, socioeconomic status, developmental level, social skills, etc.
- Realize that children deserve the same respect as adults - they just happen to be younger than us!
- Create a rhythm to help ease children through the day using song, ritual, music and movement, or anything else that seems appropriate for the group you are working with.
- Always be on the lookout for teachable moments! Follow through on bringing child-initiated and emergent interests into the classroom and building on prior learning experiences.
- Observe, listen to, and watch the children in search of opportunities to help the children understand how all things are connected.
- Trust my intuition and teach with my heart.
- "Never stop learning, growing, and loving" is a life philosophy I hope to pass on to the children I work with, even if it's only in small ways.
