I first became interested in primary teaching through working with the local neighborhood children I tutored since I was 15. This made me realize I enjoyed working with this age range, and school experience confirmed teaching as a career choice. My Master's and Doctorate degrees fired my enthusiasm and prepared me effectively to take responsibility for my own class.

My degrees have trained me to cover all National Curriculum subjects, and my subject specialisms are Middle School areas English and Social Studies. I have also studied Business Administration with a concentration in Management.

My time in school has developed my philosophy of valuing each child as an individual, as well as part of a community. I aim to give children as many learning opportunities and experiences as possible in order to engage, motivate and prepare them for future life. An appropriate, balanced, challenging and creative curriculum is essential in developing children's skills, knowledge and understanding. These all underpin personalized learning.

I have in particular come to understand the value of sharing learning objectives and success criteria with children. Knowing exactly what is expected and how they can achieve allows children to focus more clearly on tasks. This also facilitates effective self and peer assessments, as there are clear criteria and objectives to assess against, encouraging children to take more responsibility for their own learning.

Progression needs to be planned for, so that as children work and explore at their own pace, there is always something else ready to move them on and take them further in their learning. I also believe that differentiation and meeting varied learning styles are key to effective teaching and learning. Work should be set at an appropriate, but challenging, level. When I prepare lessons I make a conscious effort to ensure I am not just catering for visual learners, but try to see lessons through other learners' eyes.

I feel it is important to make learning interesting and creative, and one way to achieve this is through the use of drama; this allows children to explore and understand situations, and express feelings, thoughts and emotions. I always create songs, which have proven over time to make learning fun, fun, fun!