“Leaders are Learners.” To me, this statement means that in order to be a good teacher I must make my first priority to be a learner. I must demonstrate my willingness to learn about the students I am leading. I must show my ability to adapt to the changing environments around me. I must show wisdom and discernment in the process of developing my own outlook on life, and by living my life this way, I will affect the students I am leading because they will see these attitudes in me and will want to live likewise.

The “student body.” Not only is this a reference to the entire class and school, but this is a metaphor for how I envision community in my classroom. Just as the human body has many parts, and each part is very specialized and necessary to the whole, so is each child unique and important to the wellness of class. Through the use of our class rules, guidelines, and weekly class meetings I plan on creating community. The rules and guidelines of the class will be generated through guided discovery with the students, and will contribute to our healthy community by creating a safe place for students. During the class meetings the students will lead a teacher-facilitated discussion to deal with problems in the class and how to go through the process of “problem solving.” Additionally, class meetings will be used to give each other encouraging words and to celebrate and bring recognition to each other’s talents and abilities. Through this process students will learn about diversity and how to respect and respond to the differences between them.

A holistic approach to education is an approach that teaches children not just about academic importance, but also work ethic, what it means to be a good person, positive relationship building, and active healthy living. For example, how I would show the importance of active healthy living would be by stopping class to take short exercise breaks, starting a “kilometer club” at lunch, or by initiating a healthy snack program. I believe that it is not the teacher’s job to merely have to students do well on a test, but that it is their job to equip them with skills to do well in life. A holistic approach to education also teaches students how to react appropriately to problems in life and develop constructive social skills. By equipping students at a young age with these tools it will hopefully provide them with a positive education experience which will guide them into later grades and early adulthood.

Multiple forms of assessment give a more balanced evaluation of student progress and learning. A test, for many children, conjures up fears and anxieties which impede their ability to perform the test itself, let alone deal with the content of it! For this reason, I plan on using a few different, yet complimentary, forms of assessment: self-assessment, diagnostic interviews, portfolios, rubrics, tests, and criterion based assignments. By utilizing all these different forms of assessment I believe I will have a more accurate view of whether or not progress is being made, which I believe is ultimately more important than merely evaluating grade-level performance. This approach to assessment will also give me a clearer understanding of what I need to do to help them in their approach to learning and take steps forward.

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