The title “teacher” is special to me, because great teaching inspires the imagination and frees kids to think with an open mind. This freedom of imagination let’s kids comprehend more completely who they are and who they aspire to be. It’s all about possibilities! My personal teaching style is filled with this positive urgency, humor and energy—“Let’s do it and do it now!” Be it a special education class, a remedial class or a college course, kids apply their knowledge and insights in projects. Ideas are applied to writing, mastery of mathematical processes or performance techniques.
Feelings of confidence motivate kids and stretch into other parts of life—problems become challenges to tackle, rather than disappointments to avoid. Gaining mastery is supported by trust. Setting achievement goals is risky. Students need to trust their teacher and themselves. Building trust and relationships is another one of my chief strengths. I believe kids learn in a system of relationships and in a culture of learning. Building trust requires follow through—being present, prepared and in command, otherwise kids don’t take the risks. It also means adapting to individual learner’s needs. A great lesson or an appropriate challenge builds trust through understanding. I use an eclectic array of resources from graphic organizers, to drilling, to practiced editing, to sentence starters, to Cornell Notes.. All are a proven way to help structure learning tasks. Without judgment and a positive can-do frame of mind, we tackle what seems impossible!