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I believe being a teacher-activist is always standing up for your students and fighting against social conditions and biases that harm them. It’s having hard conversations with your students and explaining why certain groups are treated differently than others but that it isn’t fair. It’s making it clear that you will never treat them as less or other and will never be biased against them on purpose and that your room is a safe place from the harm and discrimination of the world. It’s helping students overcome biases and exceed all preconceived expectations. It’s showing all students in your room love equally, without holding back, regardless of race, disability status, gender, sexual orientation, etc.

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I believe collaboration is people working together to achieve a goal they would not be able to do alone. Collaboration is when a group of people or a community come together to make something happen for the benefit of all. Collaboration is when a group of people or a community see an issue and work together to come up with a solution that works for all. Collaboration is when a group of people with the same goal come together to accomplish that goal. Collaboration is putting petty arguments aside in order to think of and do what’s best for the whole. It is when people realize that something has to be done and, with the help of like-minded people, put aside differences to make something happen.

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I believe community/family is the group of people around you who support you even when you make mistakes or are going through a rough time and who love you unconditionally, no matter what. Family/community is the people who you live life with, have experiences and memories with, and see/talk to every day and who make it a point to build and keep a relationship with you. Family/community means that all sides work to make the relationship or community work and that people are respected and their concerns heard even if they may seem foolish. Family/Community drop anything and everything when someone is in desperate need of help like Gander, Newfoundland on 9/11 taking roughly 7,000 people from diverted American planes, nearly doubling their population of about 9,000. Community/Family is loving those around you as much as possible and letting them know they are cared for, wanted, and valued.

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I believe my students will learn best when I cater my lessons to them and their interests and use culturally responsive techniques for not just lesson planning but also classroom management. When students see their interests and their cultures shown in respectful ways within lessons it motivates them and helps gain their interest in the material. It also shows that, as a teacher, you pay attention to and care about their interests and life circumstances. When they feel respected and cared for they are more willing to learn and help create that environment for others in their class by behaving well and respectfully.

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I believe students learn best when they are allowed to explore and create for themselves. Students learn when they’re allowed to let they’re curiosity take them, ask questions, find the answers. Inquiry is huge for students and can help them learn more than we could ever teach them ourselves if we let it and encourage it. Students also learn best in a positive, encouraging, respectful environment. After all, you wouldn’t want to learn in a class where you feel the teacher hates you would you? Students learn best, overall, when they are given the time, space, and respect to do so.

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I believe all my future students are smart and can be successful. I believe all of them can and will do anything they want to and any task I may put before if they put their mind to it. I believe that all of my students are good at reading and math regardless of what they say and regardless of society saying that typically people are just good at reading and social studies or math and science but struggle with the others. I believe my students are good kids and good students regardless of what other teachers, administration, or society may say. I believe my students are always willing to work with or for someone who has taken the time to truly get to know them and build a relationship with them. I believe my students are more than their race, gender, area they grew up in, and other things society may judge them for but a whole person and someone who deserves to be heard, respected, and understood. I believe my students are kind, compassionate, and hard working when given the chance and right environment to thrive. Overall, I believe my future students are amazing young people and it will be my greatest privilege to get to know them and be a small part of their life and to hopefully help them and have them remember me as a good teacher, one of their favorites.

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I believe the purpose of schooling is to prepare the next generation to think critically and teach them the social/emotional skills and basic content they need to be successful in today’s world. For me the main focus should be on thinking critically and giving them the social/emotional skills needed because if one can learn to think critically then there is almost no end to what one can learn in the process of answering one’s questions they ask themselves through that process. If the student isn’t emotionally and socially prepared for the modern world then they will have much less of a chance at success as well. Basic content also has its place as there are many skills learned in school that almost all jobs require and there should be accountability somewhere to make sure that students are learning these skills no doubt which is why I included it; however, today the emphasis in the classroom is to teach the standards and teach for your students to pass the test which completely ignores the fact that a student passing a test is fine but doesn’t prepare them at all for the outside world. If students can’t think critically for themselves and aren’t socially and emotionally prepared then they will fail when they are inevitably asked to join the workforce and global economy.

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I believe that teaching is a noble profession but not for the faint of heart. Teachers have the responsibility of helping mold and educate the next generation and that is not something to be taken lightly. We have a responsibility to our students to educate them in ways they will truly understand and the content and knowledge we are trying to impart in ways and methods that will be best understood and most meaningful to them and to do it at their pace instead of teaching to a test like many educators are pressured into these days. We have a responsibility to show and teach them love, acceptance, and that they are valuable and not deficient when others may not be there to do so. We have a responsibility to show them they are much more to us than just who they are in the classroom but that we see them as we see ourselves, while human beings with various live experiences, ways of learning, and ways of viewing the world that we can then use and value within our classroom walls. I believe teaching is when the teacher and student both learn together in harmony and when both have left an indelible mark on each other that neither will ever forget.

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I believe that learning is a process and best occurs when the student is allowed to explore and ask questions as well as doubt and teach the teacher when necessary. Students are naturally curious so if you just get them on a topic, get them talking, provide the resources, and guide when needed they can and will come to and process the knowledge in their own way in their own time. Learning is active, not still passive and strictly standards based. Learning is human and involves the whole student and person with all their experiences in tow, not just their mind. Learning is a necessity for growth, understanding, and processing the world for what it is. Learning is that moment when you’re so engrossed with a concept or idea that you can’t pull yourself away.

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My main responsibility as a teacher is to help my students grow, this means both academically and socially/emotionally. As one of our readings from the first week, Engaged Pedagogy by Bell Hooks, says "To educate as the practice of freedom is a way of teaching that anyone can learn. That learning process comes easiest to those of us who teach who also believe that there is an aspect of our vocation that is sacred; who believe that our work is not merely to share information but to share in the intellectual and spiritual growth of our students. To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide  the necessary conditions where learning  can most deeply and intimately begin." This means we must see the whole student and their circumstances first and not just where they are at academically if we are going to succeed at our job as a teacher. A student learning to regulate and express their emotions instead of throwing a fit/tantrum multiple times a day every day then that is a huge win, lesson, and victory for that student in my book and should be celebrated along with any academic victory and progress they make. Overall, it is my responsibility as a teacher to, along with the parents, look after the whole child as I have said and the welfare and needs of that child just like the parents would/should.