Educredo: a statement of the beliefs or aims that guide my pedagogy.
Teaching is a little like balancing a hamburger on every child's head. Is this even possible? Has anyone tried this? I'm not sure this analogy is working for me, but I'm gonna give it a go anyway. I believe my job as a teacher is to demonstrate care and compassion for every child & in this way demonstrate each child's worth as well as respect each student's autonomy. I believe it is my job as a teacher to model non-judgment and spontaneity, two prerequisites for creativity to bloom. I believe it is my job to trust the inner knowledge of each child; to observe and listen carefully in order to discern the best responses possible in order to facilitate learning. I believe it is my job to see the diamond in every student and help them to see it too. I believe it is my job to offer choice/possibility/freedom. I believe it is my job to model the type of human I hope my students will become. I believe it is my job to practice radical acceptance. I believe it is my job to plant and nurture seeds. I believe it is my job to value multiple intelligences and guide children to do the same - along this vein is appreciation & use of divergent thinking. I believe it is my job to help children discover the interdependencies and connections in the world and see how they fit into it all. I believe it is my job to model & facilitate ecologically sound practices. Just as there are many involved steps to creating a deluxe and delicious hamburger and then extreme coordination to balance it on one's head, I believe my job as a teacher requires multi-layered skill and knowledge, love and creativity in order to meet the everyday dynamics a classroom offers. Definitely not impossible, but probably a little sloppy and whacking great fun!