To be a successful educator takes more than awareness of methods and an ability to speak educational jargon. A good teacher is an individual who possesses an implicit understanding of developmental stages, respects individual learning styles, and is willing to go the extra mile to reach a student.

Education is the key to an individual's success. As a teacher I hold this key. There are many children who do not succeed academically because they have been labeled difficult or unable to learn. The reality is that children grow through a series of definable but not rigid stages, and schooling should fit its activities to the developmental level of students. Curriculum needs to be flexible enough to incorporate different learning styles, abilities, interests and cultural aspects. The best starting point for true learning is the students' real interest. Investigating student led questions should take precedence over "covering" arbitrarily and distantly selected content.

It is my responsibility to make my classroom a place where all students can be successful. Not just the visual learner but the aural and the tactile learner as well. I believe that active, hands-on, concrete experience is the most powerful and natural form of learning. Students should be immersed in the most direct possible experience of the content of every subject. Yet this must be balanced with opportunities to reflect, to debrief, to abstract, and to apply what they have experienced and learned. This approach will allow my students to develop true understanding of concepts as well as higher order thinking skills. I am responsible for translating concepts into clearer ideas. How can I teach that an object is "hard" if my students have no understanding of the concept of hardness? If students fail to understand then I have failed to translate in a way that they can understand.

Students will rise or fall to the expectations that teachers and parents set for them. Students learn best when faced with genuine challenges, choices, and responsibility in their own learning. It is not unrealistic to require that homework be handed in on time, or that students be prepared for class. Student discipline should be consistent, fair and firm. The student should be aware of what is acceptable behavior and the consequences which will arise when the rules are broken. Although a school is no substitute for a strong, stable home, it is a place to foster responsibility, accountability, caring and respect.