WHAT BEING A TEACHER MEANS TO ME….

I decided I wanted to become a teacher because I want to be a positive influence on these

young children's lives during their formative years.  I know how important it is for children to
have someone they can look up to, and I know how much a teacher can either make or break a
child's confidence when it comes to learning different skills.  I had experience with both.  How-
ever, it was one specific teacher I had in High School where I genuinely felt like he wanted to ac-
commodate me so I could succeed.  I really appreciated the extra time this teacher took out of his
day(s) to help me, and I want to be that person for future students.  I think teachers have the po-
tential to have a great impact on students' lives.  I wanted to become a teacher so I can be that
person for others.  People learn in a variety of different ways, and I think as teachers we have the
power to find ways to accommodate students so they can reach their full potential both as stu-
dents and as individuals. Three of my main personal goals I have in terms of teaching are: (i).
creating a safe and positive classroom environment, (ii). instilling confidence in students who
genuinely do not think they are going to succeed based on their own circumstances or different
situations that might arise, and (iii). developing different teaching strategies to keep the students
engaged.
Timperley and Hattie discussed the importance of visual learning and how students learn dif-
ferently.  Their model helps students ask self-reflective questions, such as 'where am I going?,'
which as a result makes the learning objective attainable and sets up students for success if they
are consistently using these self-regulatory tools that both Timperley and Hattie outlined.  This
idea ties into what my belief statement as a future teacher.  I want to make sure that every single
one of my students see their potential and do everything they can do reach their respective poten-
tials.  There are many times where we as students do not understand a concept or do not do well
in a topic and we equate that to 'failure' and I think it is important for us to instil the importance
of failure and how it helps us grow as individuals as well as it ends up being a learning experi-
ence for us.  I say that to say that I think the belief statement that I will focus on instilling in all
of my students is the fact that they all have the ability to reach their full potential despite the po -
tential failures or mistakes they make along the way.