I believe every child has the opportunity to learn if given the self-recognition for their own unique personality and physical limitation, allowed the time to use their intrinsic comprehension, and given the opportunity to use their natural element, talent, and abilities. Furthermore when a child’s physical, emotional, and social needs are met they can be guided to become productive learners. All students will be academically successful if the educator is willing to invest the time, effort, patience, their pedagogy, and subject content knowledge to engage students to become effective learners. Ideally an educators’ main focus should be to guide every student to gain the knowledge and desire to seek education at a higher level and training in the work force to become a productive citizen contributing physically, socially, and financially within their communities. Even a child with a disability or severe handicap has a purpose in this world.

In today’s society teaching is a challenge for an educator in all learning institution. I think it is safe to state teaching poses an even more challenge for those teaching in an urban school. Cupped with this knowledge, an educator must evaluate his or her goals for each student at the beginning of the school year. For example, my desire is for all students in my classroom to be academically successful and a productive learner that will achieve the knowledge to be promoted to a higher grade level and to employ that knowledge in the real world.

My goals are established before the students walk in my classroom the first day of school.

Before I visually observe each student, I have already plan how to engage them in real- world experience with classroom activities that they can use in their everyday life and throughout the life span. I constantly strive to gain new knowledge about my content area and seek information to teach all students with diverse and cultural learning needs.

Planning includes exploring the curriculum and TEKs for the health sciences, examine teaching strategies to engage the learner to meet the state standards, assessing and evaluating students starting the first day of school and throughout the school year, providing a warm environment where students will feel safe, and to have classroom rules and expectation in place. The parents and community involvement are included in my preparation to engage the learner.

The first day of class is ended by reinforcing and practicing classroom procedures for fire and crisis drills, homework assignments, late work and e.g. My students are given homework assignments to read the syllable and classroom rules and expectations with parents and to complete assessment form I created to assess students’ academic strengths, weakness, talents, and future career goals. Before the end of the six weeks each student is interviewed using this assessment tool to give us an opportunity to get to know each other better.

 Throughout the first week of school the students are engaged in several icebreakers such as a positive self- esteem assignment where students tell the class something about themselves they would like to share and explained why he or she are interested in the health sciences. While each students are speaking the other student are writing something nice to place in each students’ box that is decorated with their talents, favorite color, and other things that represent that student. Students are not allowed to read comments until after school in a private place in their home and on days when they are going through hard and trying times.  By the end of the first week students are engaged in an activity to reinforce classroom rules and expectations by engaging in an activity hooking them with the movie “Freedom Writers”, staring Hilary Swank. My students and I have began to develop a trusting relationship

 As I stated in my teaching philosophy, I believe all student can be academic successful if the teacher is willing to invest their time and plan lessons to assure all students in the classroom are productive learners. I personally prefer to use strategies that will engage the learner with real world and hand on activities. If you walk in my classroom you will see my learners demonstrating, role playing, or having group discussion about their prior knowledge and new information learned.

Best Advice: The best gift you can give a person is a chance

 I am a self-motivated, ambitious, inventive person with a special interest in adolescent and teen health. I have over 25 years of nursing experience. My purpose in career development is to guide the learner to seek an interest in the health sciences and future studies in the medical field. My teaching approach is to have the student learn by utilizing his or her own natural element and intrinsic talent. My lessons are learner centered. I truly believe every student can learn, however they may not all learn the same. As the educator it is my responsibility to tap into the natural element of each student to assure all students become successful learners. My strengths stems from my desire and gifts to engage students in high order of thinking skills and activities that involved real-world experiences related to their diverse cultural and individual needs. My focus is to have the student learn information that can be used at home and throughout the life span. I believe the hands on approach, technological resources, role-playing exercises, peer collaboration, community partners, are one of many tools that will enrich student learning. I generally develop a strong bond with at-risk students due to my strong interest in teen health. Rather than giving up, I try different approaches for the individual learner. My classroom is governed by creativity, organization skills, moral and professional ethics, and classroom rules and expectations which leads to good classroom management.