Values and Strategies for my Classroom

Introduction

When I was in high school, I volunteered at a program called Read and Feed where I tutored two 2nd grade students who were struggling in school. Both students came from low income, non-English speaking homes. When I first began working with these two students, they were shy, unresponsive, and unconfident in their ability. I tutored them for a year, helping with their language and reading comprehension. At the end of the year, I noticed an amazing difference. Not only were they doing significantly better in school, but their improved English had allowed them to socialize and make friends, and they became much more outgoing and confident. Seeing the change I made in their lives made me realize I wanted to be a teacher. I have always loved learning, but working with those two students made me realize the ability I had to positively affect someone else’s life. When children are young they are naturally curious and impressionable and I believe, as a teacher, I can have the most impact during those elementary years.

Integrity

I believe integrity is the adherence to a moral principle for the reason of morality itself. Essentially, this means integrity is always making the right choices in spite of any possible reward—choosing the right action simply because it is right. As a teacher, having integrity means making the best decisions for the sake of the students.

Integrity manifests itself in many ways in the character of a teacher. First, integrity is shown by the effort a teacher gives to his or her students. I believe teachers have a moral obligation to their students to provide them with the best educational opportunities possible. As I have learned from working in classrooms, providing students with that high leve...

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...ularly evaluating both my classroom and myself and making changes whenever necessary. I want to teach my students to continue to learn and grow, even after they have left my classroom.

Works Cited

Clark, Ron. The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educator's Rules for Discovering the

Successful Student In Every Child. New York: Hyperion, 2003. Print.

Milner, H. Richard. Start Where You Are, But Don't Stay There: Understanding Diversity,

Opportunity Gaps, and Teaching in Today's Classrooms. Cambridge, MA: Harvard

Education, 2010. Print.

Sjoberg, Svein. "Constructivism and Learning." Encyclopedia of Education (2007): 1-9. Print.

Watson, Marilyn, and Victor Batterstich. "Building and Sustaining Caring Communities."

Handbook of Classroom Management: Research, Practice, and Contemporary Issues. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006. 253-75. Print.