By traditional standards I am an average teacher at best. My students don’t have the highest test scores or make the highest grades. I make mistakes in front of them, answer their questions with “I don’t know.”, and let them see me ask for help. I don’t always make it through all of the curriculum and don’t always present the information exactly like I should.

I do this because my philosophy as a teacher is that I teach students. I have worked as a Language Arts and a Special Education teacher which has prepared me for my current position as a math and special education teacher at a Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility. I work with challenging students. I work with students who struggle to maintain appropriate behaviors, lack acceptable social skills, cannot maintain boundaries, and have academic gaps. These kids know failure, stress, trauma, and disappointment. If my purpose every day was to enter my room and teach math I would fail every day.

However, my current students are learning math. I have seen them engaged, working cooperatively, and applying critical thinking and problems solving skills. I have applied math concepts to real work scenarios to attach meaning to the math. I have differentiated tasks. I am forced to think outside the box because I know my students don’t learn in traditional ways. I have students asking for more math and working on math when they don’t have to. They are experiencing success and gaining confidence. They are doing this because I enter my room each day with the sole purpose of teaching them.

My teaching style means seeing each student as an individual. I know who is embarrassed to read out loud, who needs quiet to work, who needs lined paper because every number written must be perfect, and who needs a mental break by looking at their face. I also know who won’t be able to focus on Monday depending on which parent they were with over the weekend, who needs a snack because they have no food at home, who is tired because they are responsible for caring for their siblings, and who is heartbroken because they saw their Dad for the first time in years and he didn’t say I love you.

My successes as a teacher are small things. Success is a student saying he was able to work all week because he was happy in your room. Success is a student saying your reputation is the teacher who never gives up and always pushes students to work even when they are acting crazy. Success is a student who wouldn’t speak or make eye contact at the beginning of the year joining in an impromptu dance party. Success is a kid proud to be “weird”. Success is sitting next to the student who refuses to be touched and feeling them slowly push their elbow next to yours.

My philosophy is simple. Teach Students. Talk to them. Laugh with them. Share stories with them. Know what matters to them. Be honest with them. Identify problems and work together to generate solutions. Stop talking and listen. Be there when they fail. Forgive them. Set goals and help them monitor those goals. Enjoy them. They are amazing.