Hello!

     I am a licensed educator who has over a decade of teaching experience. I have taught 4th grade for 6 years, I taught 1st grade during my student teaching period, and I homeschooled five of my children for 8 years. I have a degree in K-6 education with state licensure.  Teaching is important to me because I believe that the complex world that we live in is better understood by communicating and learning how to embrace new ideas.  Being a teacher is the perfect role for harnessing the energy that students bring into the classroom and channeling it toward positive interactions that will prepare them for being a valuable citizen in their society. The invaluable skills of being able to hold discussions, collaborate in teams, have respect for other opinions, and critical thinking are all skills that are taught in the classroom. These skills build a sense of community and environment where everyone can thrive. In addition, I aim to instill a mindset where students will approach any subject and believe that they can achieve success. So many students write off subjects due to past challenges, however, my goal is to help students develop a growth mindset where they will see challenges as steps to success.  I want my students to understand that every "wrong" answer leads to the right answer which is a lesson that they can carry with them throughout their educational journey. I see my role as a guide and a learner as I try to guide my students to success while appreciating and learning from the assets that my students will bring to the classroom.  Lifelong learning is a virtue that I will not only encourage, but model to teach my students that learning is a beautiful process that never ends.  
    My beliefs about teaching and learning focuses on providing learning experiences that will make meaningful connections to the knowledge and experiences that students already have. In my  classroom, I want to create an environment that supports the constructivist theory where students are able to interact with concepts and ideas in a way that allows them to understand complex concepts. The constructivist theory focuses on student collaboration, class discussions, exploratory experiences, and allowing students to take some responsibility for their learning. In carrying out these strategies, I want to make sure that students have an opportunity to discover the answer rather than me telling them the answer. I also want students to recognize and appreciate the ideas and opinions of their classmates by being able to analyze different points of view. Point of view in a higher order skill that students comprehend when exposed to a variety of text genre that supports critical thinking.  In addition, I want to students to focus on the process of learning rather than the results which is another constructionist approach. This is particularly important in math where students are eager to get the right answer and usually do not appreciate the process that leads to the right answer.  By focusing on the process, students will learn to appreciate all of their hard work despite the result. They will also be able to revisit their steps to any problem in science, math, literature, or social studies and be able to self-assess their performance. This increases metacognition which is so important for students ability to take more responsibility for their learning.  Lastly, I want to establish a safe environment where students can contribute their cultural and diverse backgrounds to the growth of the entire classroom.   
   To tell you a little more about myself, I am a mother of 10 children including 4 adopted children. I love to teach and have always wanted to be a teacher. My first teaching experience was homeschooling five of my children. I discovered I loved teaching and went back to school to be a licensed educator. I managed to complete my educational journey despite having a large family and working. I believe that I have been successful because I never accepted that it was not possible. I knew I had to work harder, but my goals were achievable. This is the mindset I want to encourage in my students. I want to teach them to never limit themselves and although they may have to work harder than others to achieve the same outcome, that they can do it.