I think my educational philosophy is best understood by understanding what I believe to be true about the students with whom I share a classroom.
- Each student is a person of worth--deserving of dignity as they are, worthy of respect by both teacher and peers, and worthy of the teacher's investment of time and attention.
- Each student is an individual--like all other humans in important ways and unlike others in important ways, bringing positives that need to be developed and negatives that need to be modified in order to help the student develop effectively.
- Each student in the room is building a life--with an evolving relationship to others and to learning, with the student's potential largely hidden from view.
- Each student is uniquely shaped by a combination of culture, race, gender, experience, and biology. Understanding what shapes each learner and how the classroom can extend a learner's particular strengths and possibilities is both a responsibility and an opportunity for the teacher.
- Each student is someone the teacher must come to know and understand in order to show respect, recognize individuality, develop strengths, address weaknesses, and discover potential. While she will never know any child fully, she believes she must continually attempt to learn more about each student and to use what she learns to help students grow and develop as learners and as people.
From Classroom Teaching Skills, 9th edition, James M. Cooper, ed.