I spent twenty years of my adult life out of the workforce raising my four children, so I may be new to teaching in school, I am not new to working with children. I believe that all children are capable of learning and growth and that each child has individual skills and talents. One of the greatest gifts a teacher can give a student is helping them discover and develop their special gifts. My goal as a teacher is to help every student in my class discover something they are innately good at and then foster that talent.

                Every student is different and brings unique experiences into the classroom.  I present my classroom lessons in a wide variety of ways so that their preferred method of learning is used at some point. Students are wired to absorb knowledge best through either visual stimuli, audio stimuli, or tactile stimuli.  I use all three of these methods to teach the key concepts in my lessons. By using all three methods, every student should be better able to gain the knowledge needed because it is explained in the method that their mind prefers. I love to use hands on activities and I know from experience that students learn better when they figure out the answers for themselves. Science activities are my favorite. Hands on science activities are the best way to channel the natural curiosity about the world into knowledge. Students are much more likely to remember lessons that are fun and interesting, but they need to be presented in an organized manner so that today’s lesson will be a logical continuation of yesterday’s lesson.

                I know that girls can be very good at math and science. Fostering an interest for these two subjects in my female students is a major goal of mine. I have a daughter with a finance degree and a daughter working on an engineering degree, so I know how to do it.  I believe in challenging girls to explore the opportunities that a solid knowledge of math, computers, and science can provide.

                Because I have spent so much of my life with children, I understand their limitations.  Students can only absorb a small amount of knowledge at a time and they need to practice it and manipulate it before it can be completely assimilated.  Introducing too much information too quickly will leave students feeling frustrated and make the lessons much less effective. I organize my lessons so that each introduces just enough new information to keep students interested, but not overwhelmed. I then provide them with the practice they need to absorb it.  Each new bite of information will connect with the bites that come before it and after it. I believe in using many different methods so that the students won’t get bored or complacent.

                One of the largest challenges that I found teaching my class last year was finding ways to help students who were frustrated and had stopped trying or had given up on some subjects entirely.  I looked for ways to keep the students engaged and to provide them with opportunities to respond and participate, such as using personal whiteboards and choral response, so that everyone is a part of the lesson and no one can hide under the radar.  I also looked for ways to make the lessons relevant and applicable to real life, like using percussion to help students with equivalent fractions or songs to help them remember important information for a test.  They often found themselves learning and enjoying it and then surprised themselves with success.  The best part is when they started to expect  success where they used to struggle.

                I love teaching children. I have missed being around children and am looking forward to having that adventure back in my life – and I know that any day spent with a room full of children will be full of excitement and adventure.