"Childhood should be a journey, not a race."
(The Society For Developmental Education)
1.) I believe that children are active learners (mentally and
physically) who construct knowledge and contribute to their own development
by interacting with their environment. Young children actively learn from
observing and participating with other children and adults, including
parents and teachers.
2.) I believe that children learn best in an academic environment where
they feel safe and valued, where their physical needs are met, and where
they feel psychologically secure and accepted.
3.) I believe that children's physical, social, emotional and cognitive
development is interrelated and that teachers need to use these
interrelationships when planning learning experiences.
4.) I believe children learn through play. Play provides opportunities
for exploration, experimentation and manipulation that are needed for
constructing knowledge. During play, children learn how to deal with
feelings, to interact with others, to resolve conflicts, and to develop
their imagination and creativity.
5.) I believe that teachers of young children are guides and
facilitators to learning and development. Teachers are an integral part of
the learning process and should guide students toward a sense of self-
fulfillment. This can be accomplished by providing motivation, by using
flexible teaching styles, and by making maximum use of available resources.
6.) I believe that the goal of teaching is to engage the mind of the
learner. Curriculum should be relevant to children since what is meaningful
is always more easily learned, understood and remembered.
7.) I believe all teaching should include both/and thinking. For
example. Children construct their own knowledge and also learn from their
peers and teachers. Children benefit from daily routine and from teacher
flexibility and spontaneity. Children learn through integrated curriculums
and from in-depth study in specific areas. Children learn through
situations that challenge them to work at the outer limits of their
abilities and from opportunities to practice and refine acquired skills.
Finally, children benefit from making their own choices about what to study
and from teacher planned and structured activities.
8.) I believe parents/guardians play an important role in children's
growth and educational development. Teachers and parents need to share
their knowledge through day to day communication and periodic conferences.
Teachers and families need to work together in assessing and planning for
students. Importantly, teachers need to respect parents' academic choices
and goals for their children without sacrificing their own professional
responsibility to students.
9.) I believe that learners are unique, with individual needs, talents,
experiences, abilities and interests. Importantly, children develop
socially, emotionally, cognitively and physically at different times.
Therefore, curriculum needs to be developmentally appropriate for students.
It needs to be adjusted for differences in children's development and
learning. Children should not be expected to master skills that might be
learned more easily later on.
10.) I believe that teachers need to use a wide variety of instructional
strategies and educational materials in which to provide an enriched and
flexible curriculum that accommodates the broad range of children's
individual differences. These strategies include modeling, demonstrating,
providing information, verbal encouragement, etc.
11.) I believe that teachers need to support students' individual,
cultural and linguistic diversity. Curriculum should reflect the
multiculturalism that is prevalent in American society today. Classrooms
need to be microcosms of social justice in which a balance is achieved
between learning about majority groups and studying about non-mainstream
cultures.
12.) I believe that children learn best in an academic environment that
allows for the refinement of newly acquired skills and for the experience of
challenges just beyond the level of the children's competence. Adults and
more competent peers can contribute to children's learning by providing
support or scaffolds to further learning.
13.) I believe that children learn best in an environment in which all
students, teachers, parents and other academic professionals come together
as a caring community of learners who freely consider and contribute to each
other's well-being. In this caring community everyone is accepted,
respected, valued and treated with dignity at all times.
14.) I believe teachers need to facilitate the development of self-
regulation in children. Teachers should set clear, consistent and fair
limits for children's behavior and children should be held accountable to
these standards.
15.) I believe that teachers need to continually observe and assess their
curriculum for the purpose of improving their teaching methods and
facilitating more effective learning.
"Every student can learn. Just not on the same day or in the same way."
~ George Evans~
