I believe as an effective educator, my number one priority is building relationships with my students and their parents. In my classroom, this looks like making sure my students and parents know that I am on their team. I believe that when students know you care about their lives and what they are going through and that you are there to find ways to help them be successful they feel safe enough to ask for your support. I also believe that creating a positive relationship with parents is crucial. I do this by writing a monthly newsletter on Parentsquare about the fun assignments and projects my students are working on in my classroom. I also try to call home periodically to share how their students excelled at being a kind person or on a particular assignment. I want to make sure that parents not only hear about how their students are doing at a parent-teacher conference but throughout the year.  It is important to me that parents know I am on their side, and I am working hard to help their students succeed. 

     Additionally,  I want to create a growth mindset within my classroom where my students feel safe enough to try, to fail, and to try again until they push past any anxiety or doubt in their abilities. I will support this by having conversations about how we all make mistakes,  mistakes help us grow, and share my struggles.  I will use helpful posters to remind students of the power of yet I.E.  I don’t understand this yet. I will also give students a couple of attempts to complete assignments. 

     I believe that as a teacher it is my responsibility to learn about my students not just as students but also as people. I plan to do this through informal interviewing, diagnostic testing, progress monitoring, and parent communication, preferred methods of learning,  and student personality types. With this knowledge, it is my responsibility to create lessons that incorporate multiple learning styles and at times choices on how to complete assignments.  I also look for ways to both challenge and support my students through enrichment and scaffolding as appropriate, and teach them how to break up their assignments so they do not feel overwhelmed. This responsibility also includes creating a welcoming environment for my special education students and learning to scaffold and provide accommodations to them so they can participate in the learning process as much as possible. In increasingly more diverse classrooms, I believe it is my job to celebrate, increase my knowledge of, and be aware of any cultural differences that my students may have that might be misinterpreted. It is also my responsibility to know my student's parents' language assets and needs, so I may be prepared to know and access the resources my school can provide such as translators etc. 

       In an increasingly technological world, I believe technology must play an important part in the classroom to enhance our lessons, give our students needed technology skills, and spark a love of learning. I believe it is important that my students understand how to access accurate information, use computers at a grade-appropriate level, and understand both the benefits and drawbacks of technology. Some of the ways I would like to incorporate technology into my classroom is through: 

Presentations using Google Slides and a vision board

Digital storytelling through YouTube or Epic reading program

Gamification  through - Reflex, Rocket Math, Prodigy, and ABCYA

Independent practice through - IReady, Lexia, and IXL

Technology Exposure through - BCOE Edtech Exchange

     As an effective educator, I am committed to planning, teaching, assessing, and reflecting. I believe I am only as good of a teacher as my continued commitment to reflection and growth for my students.