Educators value and care for all students and act in their best interests.
Rogers (1979) argues that in order to create a good learning environment, teachers need to foster three elements in their relationships with students: be caring, empathic, and genuine. Caring has been the characteristic that has impacted me the most throughout my schooling years. In my experience, those teachers who genuinely care go that extra mile to know their students and take the time to listen. As an educational assistant in an Aboriginal school and most recently as a teacher candidate, it has been critical to connect with students and show care, empathy, and be genuine. This allowed me to build strong, lasting, and trusting relationships my students. A caring approach establishes that special bond between the student and teacher making something that may seem impossible, possible.
I come from the perspective that every child has their own unique individual needs that need to be met in and outside the classroom. I know the new BC ‘s curriculum accounts for personalized learning and flexible learning environment to better promote student success. I constantly refer to that in my teaching practice every day, as well as Shelley Moore and her philosophy of inclusion. I always strive to create my classroom a culture of inclusion for all my students to have access to all the learning. I love the shift the district has taken for the physical structure and layout of classrooms – I remember my k-12 education and I remember it being very desk in rows and not as inclusive for all learning somewhat more rigid and now shifting from an EA to teacher, I noticed that we have desks in pods now that all of our teaching is geared to providing our students with the most inclusive environment possible.
As a teacher, I will always strive to
- foster an inclusive, holistic, engaging and safe classroom environment
- enrich my students own connections to their people, place and land
- always look through a trauma informed lens and adhere to my student’s social emotional well-being as well as their growth mindset and core competencies
- implement outdoor education in this practicum, connecting my students to the outdoor classroom
- providing my students will endless opportunity to be valued, heard and empowered
- embrace all my student’s strengths and possibilities, making sure I always meet my students where they are at involving them in their own learning process and journey
Rogers, C.R. (1979). The foundations of the person-centred approach. Retrieved fromhttp://www.elementsuk.com/libraryofarticles/foundations.pdf
