Teacher Philosophy

There are billions of people in the world- but all it takes is one. A single individual that

may touch students’ lives so deeply and beautifully that their impact will follow them forever.

Being born and raised in the inner-city and attended my neighborhood schools, I’m aware and

have experienced first-hand the adversities that affect our youth. On my journey as a

transformative educator, I ask myself How can I be an effective teacher and touch the lives of

students? My vision as a teacher is to help shape intelligent, self-aware individuals and I will

attempt to uphold this by creating a democratic classroom environment, presenting a challenging

curriculum, and raising a social consciousness within my students, whether it be in general

education or special education.

One of my goals as a teacher is being able to present a challenging curriculum, while

implementing educational methods to make sure the content is accessible to all students, whether

they may have an exceptionality or not. This means taking into consideration students’ needs,

learning styles, and appropriate instructional strategies. I plan on implementing and creating

lesson aligned to the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. The goal of UDL is to,

use a variety of teaching methods to remove any barriers to learning and giving all students equal

opportunities to succeed. Strategies aligned to the UDL principles will help maximize student

achievement and motivation taking into consideration needs of the student population.

In working to ensure that students are able to learn, it’s crucial to establish a safe

community in the classroom from the beginning. When a student feels safe in the classroom,

they learn best as they foster a community of learners amongst teacher and peers where they are

able to feel supported and cared for.

 In making content meaningful to diversity in the classroom, I will promote a culturally

relevant pedagogy. This includes taking into account students’ values, beliefs, and experiences,

as well as their home language. I believe that students reach their full learning potential when

they are able to relate to the curriculum. Through taking students interests into consideration and

self-reflecting, my goal is for students to influence the flow of the class in a constructive manner.

This is done by allowing students to take ownership in their learning and valuing their identities

to positively impact learning. In turn, this culturally responsive strategy will appropriately

support academic goals. In alignment with my progressive viewpoint, I will promote cooperate

learning, while acting as a facilitator and allows students’ interests to guide their learning.

My ultimate goal and responsibility are for students to be global citizens. For students to

know that they should care for injustices that occur not only within their own communities but

the entire world. For that reason, it’s key for students to develop a broader social political

consciousness that allows them to critique the cultural norms, values, mores, and institutions that

produce and maintain social inequities. My goal is to guide students in thinking critically of their

society and injustices that may be going on. My desire is to help students become aware and help

change the status quo in creating a positive change. I strive to be an educator that helps shape

confident and democratic individuals. I’m humbled each day by students and learn from them

just as much as they learn from me.