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My motivations for teaching can be defined to a few categories:

I. Lifelong impact through relationships

Some of the most impactful teachers that I can remember still impact me to this day. I remember how my fourth grade teacher was able to spark my love for writing and reading, even when I did not consider these my strengths in the past. In this same way, I hope to be able to build relationships with my students and impact them in the same way, even if they don't realize it in the moment.

II. Learning of identity

I want students to be able to realize that my classroom is a safe space for them to explore themselves and learn more about the world around them. Just as my teachers allowed me to learn about other cultures and explore my own self-interests, I hope to be able to spark the same for my students. This includes getting exposure to diverse curriculum and being allowed to make mistakes along the way!

III. Joy of technology

As a graduated computer science major, I want to be able to spark a love of technology in my students! Ed-tech is something that is growing in the education industry (which I will go into more detail later). Just as I remember learning how my love of typing and coding started in a classroom, I hope to be able to shape that love for students in some shape or form.

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In my classroom, I want to create a safe space for everyone to contribute towards a united community between students, teachers, and staff that allows for positive growth for all. In order to do so, I will prioritize communication to make expectations clear!

Students will be allowed (and encouraged!) to make mistakes and will not be confined to allow them to grow. Students will also be encouraged to learn more about their own identities and will have responsibilities within the classroom to encourage accountability within the classroom. Lastly, they should come to the classroom ready to learn and have an open mind!

Parents will be encouraged to be ambassadors of their own students! This includes frequent communication between parents, teachers, and staff. Parents will also provide aid in classroom setup and is expected to provide the teacher with feedback and knowledge of their own child.

The teacher will serve as the main ambassador between the parents, students, and staff. It is my job to ensure that communication is handled swiftly and effectively between all parties. In addition, I will work to maintain a positive classroom environment, building relationships with all parties and working to support the needs of each party, as necessary.

Administrators will work to provide feedback as necessary and will work alongside the teacher in any aid regarding students or parents.

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My rationale for choosing this philosophy is due to my experiences both in the classroom as a student and teacher. As I have recalled my best experiences with teachers, it has been with those who have actively worked to build a relationship with me, made expectations clear in the classroom, and worked to create a community that not only was focused, but encouraged growth. As an incredibly shy child, the best classrooms were ones where I felt more than comfortable talking to my own peers and sharing out in class. I also remember feeling encouraged, even in areas that I myself was not confident in.

Because of this, I want to encourage the same for my students, making it clear that it is a safe space and that they will have the opportunity to grow immensely. Additionally, however, as I have gained experience with children over the years, I have also understood the importance of making expectations clear through consistent communication, as prior experiences with children where I was too nice have led to the downfall of such expectations.

In this way, when selecting curriculum and materials, I will focus on ones that encourage a diverse array of topics, including ones based around identity. Additionally, I will focus on integrating technology into the classroom without overloading students. At a young age, students should still have exposure to technology because it is our world -- that's just the truth. But students should also have exposure to other things too! When considering expectations, evaluation, and community, I want to have communication at the forefront between me and the students and will work to make expectations clear and direct from the start of the school year. I also will work to encourage students and challenge them, working themselves to be their best selves and to grow!

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Through my philosophy, students may have to work through improving their SEL skills as they work on more project-based curriculum that encourages communication with other classmates. Furthermore, students will have multiple means of representation for most projects, allowing for a UDL approach to the classroom (which may include an integration with technology). This may go outside of the typical classroom norms and students may not fit the "cookie cutter mold," but by doing so, I hope to allow students to grow in their social skills and develop a genuine love for learning. This philosophy encourages an open mind between students, allowing students to gain exposure to multiple theories and identities, while simultaneously encouraging students to make mistakes!

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Building a community and positive culture within a classroom is essential for creating a healthy space for learning. At the heart of it is a set of clear expectations, opportunities for students (and teacher) to connect with one another, and the building of positive relationships.

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Community circles are a beautiful way to create a positive culture in the classroom because it allows others to witness positive interactions and for everyone to see each other. Each morning and once a week in the afternoon, I plan to host community circles, where we can discuss plans for the day, say good morning to each other, and talk about positive things that we have (or wish to do) in the day ahead. This way, we can start our days off right.

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The student-teacher relationship remains one of the most important aspects of the classroom, as it can critically improve the outcomes of students through meeting a way to meet students' needs of relation, competence, and autonomy. This can be achieved by using what you learn about students grow a connection and by actively learning about your students' lives outside of school (Casetta & Sawyer, 2015).

One way I hope to achieve this is by actively working to build student relationships early. On the first week, I hope to give students a survey to learn more about themselves. Additionally, activities where students bring in items from home or talk about themselves will be used so that other students can learn about themselves. This way, talking points can be created as we learn more about the students.

I will also aim to make myself available. If students wish to talk to me after school, I will be available as much as I can. I also encourage students and parents to tell me about outside activities that they are participating in, so that I can cheer them on whenever possible to create a sense of community and support!

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Throughout the year, students will work to create custom handshakes with one another that they can showcase when they complete group projects! At the end of each day, a custom handshake (or other form of acknowledgement) will be used between each student and the teacher.

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These will be made clear from the start of the year and will be determined by both the students and teacher. This also plays a part into building community, as expectations are something that are mutually agreed upon.

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Amongst the first days of the school year, we will work to create an expectation list (but not too long) that students and teachers can be expected to follow. This will be decided by the students and will only be added once students are able to model what such behavior looks like in front of the class. This will encourage conversation amongst students and clear expectations as to what such behaviors might look like that are agreed upon together. Students, in addition to the teacher, will also determine what the appropriate consequences for not following such behaviors may look like, so that all consequences are transparent. This togetherness is important, as "operating with autonomy [and authority] means making responsible decisions within agreed-upon constraints (France, 2018)." In the creation of a contract, we will focus on creating positive rules (such as "respect others"), rather than negative ones ("don't hit people").

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While it is important to make a contract that can be agreed on, too many rules can be hard to follow. After the class discusses about what rules to follow, we will condense as necessary, creating rules that are no more than 10 rules long. As we continue throughout the year, these rules will continue to be referred to whenever a problem gets brought up. Additionally, students will get encouraged by their teacher when they are following said rules. This way, the amount of positive feedback (should) exceed that of the negative.

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Building proper classroom procedures are so important to maintain a functioning classroom. While there are likely going to more routines than I count in a classroom, the three main routines I want to establish are regarding lining up, partner collaboration, and end of the day routines.

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One thing that I have struggled with in the past has been getting students to transition in a timely manner. To combat this, students will be at the heart of holding their fellow students accountable.

At the end of any activity:

1. Students will be expected to clear their desk and clean the area around them.

2. One classroom job will be a teacher assistant, at which point, this assistant would go up to the front of the classroom.

3. The teacher's assistant will call rows (or individual students) to line up if their area is cleaned up.

4. Students will push in their chairs and line up in number order by the door (based on alphabetical last name).

5. The teacher will dismiss all students once they are lined up and quiet.

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As Learning For Justice states, "students who work, solve problems and play together are more likely to empathize with their classmates (LFJ, 2022)." This will be incorporated into daily discussions, especially those that occur at the carpet.

Students will be allowed to sit wherever they wish on the carpet, but may be required to talk to partners during a time called "Partner Pop!".

If the teacher does a signal or says "pop!", students will be required to turn to a partner near them and conversate about the required topic or complete the required task.

At this point, students may iterate through multiple partners if multiple "pops" are initiated. This establishes consistent communication and will allow students to conversate with new students, since the carpet has free seating. This continues until the teacher calls all students back.

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At the end of the day, a community circle will be initiated. Students will be required to form a circle in a timely manner. At this point, students will either participate in a daily question of the day, may play a game, or have a chance to meditate/say affirmations.

Questions of the day may include silly questions like "What superpower would you have?", but may also include more encouraging ones such as "Say a compliment about the person to your right". Students will then go around the circle and complete the task.

Some affirmations may include "I am strong" or "I am hard-working."

At the completion of this, students will line up by the door and will perform their customized handshake with the teacher before exiting.

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I am a strong believer of technology in education. Technology has been a growing field for the past 20 years and will only continue to grow. By using technology in our classroom, it can be useful because:

1. It appeases to students. Students love technology and will be able to enjoy their education by using something they are used to using at home.

2. It is useful! Building technological literacy for our students such as typing, creating documents, etc. are quite important and builds lifelong skills.

3. It can be more useful than traditional ways. Moving away from the traditional model of whole-group instruction, technology has the rare opportunity to be able to work with all children, as everybody has their own screen and set of instructions. Thus, we can include challenges that are unique for each learner based on their strengths and weaknesses.

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Depending on the age, I want to prioritize building skills that students will use for their life. During computer instruction, students will learn how to type and improve their typing speed. Students will also learn how to use tools such as Powerpoint or Word and these will be alternative forms that students can use for projects, as it will allow students to use multiple forms of representation. Lastly, although this is typically a required part of the curriculum, I intend to use it for supplementation in math and language arts. Whether through customized questions or educational games, it will allow students to build their skills outside of formal instruction.

Alternatively, if time permits, I want to allow students to learn how to code! This is how I got my start into computer science, and by using programs such as Scratch or Scratch Jr, students can learn how to code video games in a student-friendly way.

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Something that having a technology-centered curriculum addresses are the differences of students at home. Just like with literacy, students will come in with different experiences with technology. Some will know it front and back, some will know how to type, and some will never have used it in their life. By formalizing it into the curriculum rather than an optional tool, it allows students to bridge together their differences into a formalized way, so that no student feels left out.

In addition, we can allow students, just like with literacy, to learn at their own pace. The beauty of technology is that curriculum can be sped up or slowed based on the technological literacy of the student.

Technology can also build connection by encouraging students to work together at times on the computer and can also build general excitement in the classroom. In my experience, students are always more than happy to work with technology and it can only be beneficial to bring it into the classroom as technology gets introduced to students at such a young age!

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1. Cassetta, G. & Sawyer, B. (2015). Classroom Management Matters: The Social-Emotional Learning Approach Children Deserve. Heinemann.

2. France, P. E. (2018). A healthy ecosystem for classroom management. ASCD. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/a-healthy-ecosystem-for-classroom-management

3. Reframing Classroom Management: A toolkit for educators. Learning for Justice. (2022). https://www.learningforjustice.org/sites/default/files/general/TT_Reframing_Classroom_Managment_Handouts.pdf