I believe that a teaching is a life-long commitment to the personal, emotional, and academic needs of students. Teachers must be dedicated and love their work - don't look at it as a job. As a teenager, I often volunteered to baby-sit because I enjoyed taking care of children. As an adult, I am pursing a teaching career because I want to make a difference in the success of today's children. To be an effective teacher, I believe that one must be enthusiastic, confident, honest, and holistic.
I believe that teaching is an active profession; a teacher must convey energy to the students through spontaneous enthusiastic activity. If the teacher is happy, the children are happy. Conversely, if the teacher is not happy, negative things can happen. The mission of all teachers should center on fostering happy, well-adjusted children who will grow up to by happy, well-adjusted adults. Enthusiasm, energy, and happiness contribute to creating a positive environment, one in which children's basic needs are met. A positive environment leads to greater curiosity, greater production, and higher levels of thinking.
Teachers should be confident enough to listen and respond professionally to questions and challenges from both parents and other members of faculty and administration. If a teacher can confidently carry on a two-way conversation, they will model the same in the classroom. Confidence is achieved from a high degree of competency in the knowledge of human growth, development, and learning. Teachers should be able to apply methods and strategies for dealing with children in all ways, not just academically. Professional journals and books should be read consistently so that they can understand, use, and talk about current knowledge and practice. Teaching is also a research-based profession; teachers should teach from a reputable base of qualified research. In others words, teachers should know what they are doing and how they are doing it.
