Statement of Personal Teaching Beliefs and Values

I believe that students need to have a supportive and welcoming environment to be

able to learn. Scholars Shernoff, Ruzek & Sinha (2017) write that, “support for student

motivation and positive relationships in the classroom have an impact on student engagement,

which in turn impacts perceived learning.” (p. 213) This means that I will do my best to make

sure that my students feel safe and comfortable in my classroom as well as engaged in learning.

As the teacher, I feel my role is to be the safe spot for those children. This means being open to

discussion, allowing for questions, being able to provide the space for learning to take place. To

achieve this, I need to be engaged in the students and listen to their concerns and criticisms. I

need to be there for them, to support their learning and to help them grow.

This leads to treating every student fairly both in and out of the classroom. When

students feel safe they will open themselves up and express their inner-self. This may be

challenging to have children feel comfortable enough to open up around so many others, but it

can be done. This is important in learning and something that I want to achieve in my

classroom. To meet this goal, I need to make sure that every student feels safe - this means

treating them fairly to provide them all with a fair learning environment. I understand that

treating students fairly doesn’t always mean equal and this is what everyone needs to be aware

of. I will do my best to make sure that every student has what they need in order to succeed.

This may mean that I have to vary some lessons or change some teaching strategies for some

students to achieve that better understanding.

I believe that the relationship between the teacher and the student is the core of all

learning success in the classroom. This is because without a strong relationship, students are
not going to engage in the activity or lesson and then they won’t learn. However, if a student

trusts and respects a teacher then they are better able to engage and find an interest and

connection with what that teacher is teaching. As this is something I believe in, I am committed

to building strong relationships with the students in my class in order to keep them engaged.

This will look like mutual respect between the student and I and also show that they can trust

me to listen to what they have to say. Allowing them to come up and question grades or ask

questions about assignments will provide them opportunity to express their concerns and

needs. This then allows me to explain and help that student so that they see me side and I see

theirs.

Finally, I believe that students learn better if the teacher is confident. If a teacher is

teaching a subject that they are not as strong in such as an English teacher teaching math or the

other way around, confidence is key. This confidence may come from going through the

curriculum and re-learning the material myself. If a student sees a teacher that is confident,

they will embrace that same confidence and believe that they can do the assignment too. On

the other hand, if the student sees a teacher that looks terrified to teach a certain subject, they

will feel like they can’t do it either. Scholars Gulistan, Hussain, & Mushtaq (2017) note that,

“teachers’ self-efficacy is directly related to students’ academic achievement and overall

learning.” (2017) With this knowledge I will always try to appear confident when teaching a

lesson out of my comfort zone. This may result in me learning or re-learning how to do the

assignment or even just acting confident to hide being scared.

In conclusion, my philosophy is on-going and is a changing as I learn more about and

experience teaching. Having my philosophy based off the aspects I have learned as a student is
different than actually experiencing teaching myself. From these beliefs I hope to grow and

build my philosophy to express myself more confidently as a teacher.

References:

Gulistan, M., Hussain, M., & Mushtaq, M. (2017). Relationship between mathematics teachers
self-efficacy and students’ academic achievement at secondary level. Bulletin of
Education and Research. 39(3), 171-182.

Shernoff, D. J., Ruzek, E. A., & Sinha, S. (2017). The influence of the high school classroom
environment on learning as mediated by student engagement. School Psychology
International. 38(2) 201–218.