The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes

and leads you on to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth, Dan Rather (CBS News Anchor). I believe that a childs love of education comes from the teacher who pushes and proves that education is important. A successful learning environment is built when a teacher is a positive role model and can enlighten students with the knowledge of the world. Every child has the right to an education, a right to learn, and should never be denied access to an education. From my experiences, children learn from their past experiences, interactions with other people, and interactions with the environment around them. Its documented that children have very different styles in which they learn. Students demonstrate their maximal potential when they feel respected and valued. Children have a desire and need to be included and to feel like they matter. Childrens basic needs must be met before they can be fully successful at learning. Learning is a journey that can often be challenging for students. It is one that needs the guidance and diligence of others to help each student reach their potential goals in life. Students are expected to learn the core concepts of life in school. What am I going to do with my life? Why is school important? Teacher, how are you going to help me to become a productive member of society? Who am I? When those questions are answered with truth and care, the students will continue to come back, with a desire to learn. Students for years have memorized answers given by a teacher. Now, the hands-on learning approach allows the students to understand the why and the how instead of just repeating the answer. I have seen it is valuable to create a classroom environment that is conductive to learning. A classroom should be set up with materials and manipulatives that are exciting and engaging to the children. The environment should be welcoming to all that enter. When walking into my classroom, you will see an interactive bulletin board focused on a subject that is energized and educational. Posters with positive words of encouragement are hung all around the room. The PA standards are posted in the classroom for the students and the staff. I feel that each child should know what is being taught and what is to come. Behavior charts are in a location where the kids can easily access. The rules and consequences are hung in a manner that each student is able to see. My goal is that my students will walk into my classroom and not feel overwhelmed. I remember the day when teaching became a part of my life. I was student teaching in a learning support classroom, and I encountered a student who struggled in math. He would get embarrassed and usually hide in his seat when it came to fractions and multiplication. I came up to him and showed him the finger trick with multiplying the 9s without any other student seeing this interaction. I looked at him and said, Lets show the class you learned your 9s, it will be our secret how you learned. The next day, I started a game called Multiply by Skittles. I had created an interactive bulletin board to coincide with his particular unit. I looked at the student and gave him a thumbs up. I called him to our game, and he picked up the card, hoping the card was a 9. Secretly, I made sure he would receive a card that he would multiply by 9. He picked up the card, took a second to think, grabbed the skittles, and separated them correctly by moving his little fingers before answering. He laughed and smiled up at me, and said, 9 times 3 is 27. I knew at that moment he was not scared to be in school anymore. He conquered one goal that had always been a struggle (confidence in math).

As a teacher I am responsible for teaching in a way that each childs development and learning is the focus. I believe as an educator I am responsible for planning lessons that are interesting and engaging for the children where it will help them construct their own knowledge. I have seen that the curriculum should be developmentally appropriate and be presented in a way that each child can reach his or her potential for learning. It should be a balance between teacher directed and child initiated so that proper learning can occur. I have taught challenging students, on the at-risk spectrum. My students have come from homes that education was not always the most important task of the day or even year. I strongly feel a great teacher respects, cares, and brings out the best in their students, with the hope that education will then become the number one priority in a childs life.