Professional Portfolio

           When students walk into my classroom, I want them to feel loved and welcomed. I want my classroom to be a safe place, where students can come and be themselves. I will have students who come from difficult home situations and my classroom might be their only place of peace. Every child deserves to have a place where they are valued. My classroom will be that place. We will laugh and have fun, and we will cry and have bad times. If we can handle the good and the bad as a class, then we can handle anything. I want my students to know that I am there for them and that I will help them in any way I can. When my students see that I care about them, all of them, they will start to feel safe. When they feel safe, they will be able to learn authentically. If I can make my classroom feel safe for my students, then I will be more successful teaching them.

            All students want to learn. I want all of my students to learn. Not all students enjoy school though; some of them might have had negative experiences with school, or they struggle with the content and demands of school, but I believe all students still want to learn. As a teacher, it is my job to find ways for all of my students to be able to grasp the information. I can do that by making my lessons interactive and accessible to all my students. I hope that by the end of the year, all of my students will have had a positive experience with school and know that they can learn.

            Along with making learning accessible, I want my students to know and love science. Science tends to be the subject that gets neglected in school, because teachers may not be comfortable teaching it, or reading and math are put ahead of science and social studies because of testing. I love science. I love exploring new topics and learning about the world. I cannot wait to bring that excitement to my students when we learn about science. By giving my students high expectations of learning, I hope they will embrace the challenges of learning new science concepts. I know that my passion of science, and math, reading, and social studies, will get my students excited about it. I also want my students to love all the subjects. There is so much value in each and there is so much to learn. As an elementary student, I remember everyone having a favorite subject and a subject they hated. I do not want any of my students to hate a subject. They will probably have a favorite subject, but I also want them to like the other subjects. If I can bring fun back into learning, then students will start to see the value of all the subjects. I love learning; I will always keep learning and exploring. If my students leave my classroom wanting to learn and explore, then I will feel accomplished.