"I decided to become a teacher because I love teaching and because my father, who is also a teacher, had a significant impact on me. I have always harbored a lifelong love of learning and of helping others. Throughout my life, regardless of the position I have held, I have always been a teacher at heart. Although I enjoyed mentoring and training employees in the corporate world, teaching provides the opportunity for serving as a role model and positively affecting a student for a lifetime. By engaging students in the learning process, teachers can help them develop the social skills needed to brighten the future for everyone. A teacher can make a large difference in the world through touching the lives of young people, and that is why I feel so privileged to be a part of the process.

My teaching has been heavily impacted by the likes of Covey, Lucy Calkins, and Bloom. Covey has influenced my leadership style as well as my teaching philosophy. His “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Leaders” is incorporated into everything that I do. Lucy Calkins has influenced my view on the importance of literacy being present in all content areas, while Bloom’s Taxonomy as well as the Teaching for Understanding framework has influenced my lesson design. I also try to design lessons that appeal to all the different learning styles. I believe that learning occurs on many different levels. Students must first become engaged through accessing prior knowledge, and then they must learn the information, analyze, synthesize, apply, and assess their own learning. So students can achieve this, I promote a student-centered learning environment where students can be responsible for their own learning and activities are hands-on. In this type of environment, students can engage their minds in a meaningful interpretation of the classroom experience.

Ultimately, I hope to inspire my students by serving as a fair and positive role model, affecting the emotional, intellectual, and social development of each student I encounter. I hope to provide my students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed as adults, by helping them reach their full potential, and by impressing upon them the joy that comes from a lifetime of learning." less...