I believe...

I'm excited to link up with With Love From Texas to talk about my educational beliefs. 

Let me start by saying, I have many. HA! Y'all I'm all kinds of opinionated, but I narrowed it down to the ones I thought were essential. I was raised in very loving classrooms and I grew up to absolutely adore school. I'm so blessed to have began my student life and teacher life in the district I now work in. I LOVE my district. There are so many things wrong with education in so many places, and we're not perfect, but my district knows a thing or two about loving students, families and their teachers-for that I'm forever grateful. 

I think that building relations with students is my number one job. ANYONE can stand at a board and teach a math lesson. ANYONE can print off and laminate math games. None of that matters if students aren't engaged, and part of being engaged is having a relationship. I remember having a teacher in high school who I didn't like. He won so many awards and it still amazes me because I never saw it. I had no respect for him or relationship with him, and I learned little in his class. Sad right? I would hate for that to happen to my students! 

Students have to have their needs met, I think we all can agree on that! Safety is a big deal for me. I know that sometimes students don't feel safe at home, I encountered that a lot during my student teaching in another city. I need my students to know I have their back. They can come to me if they're hurting. They can count on me to care about their well being. 

Laughter is SO important in my classroom. If you're not laughing everyday, something's wrong. I like to teach my students that it's okay to laugh at yourself. We all do silly and embarrassing things, and life would be so sad if we never laughed at ourselves. With that being said, there's a time for silly, and during math independent probably isn't the time! 

Students love structure. Sometimes I feel like I get a little nuts with rules, but then I remember that high expectations are so important. When we have kids and send them to school, I pray their teachers will have high expectations for their character. I know that my students always preform better when they know exactly what to expect, and when they're striving to be their best. 

Modeling grace is SO important. Sometimes the best thing to do is offer students grace, because they're children! They can't be perfect all the time. While I can't preach the gospel to my students, and oh how I wish I could, I can show them that love isn't earned. It's given unconditionally. I pray daily that I will model Christ's love to my students and families. (Part of this is also admitting when I make a mistake, like when I'm in a bad mood and say something not so nice. Owning that is important because I know that all my students don't see adults owning their mistakes.) 

That was a FULL post for sure! I would love to hear what your beliefs are! Do we have any in common? :) Keep following the loop by clicking here!