To say that their examples have influenced my teaching would be an understatement; I try to mirror their love and passion every day I work with my students. So, just as my teacher’s did for me, I seek to believe in my students until they can believe in themselves. When students are able to believe in themselves and their abilities and can recognize the value of working hard, academic growth and achievement will follow. To guide them through this process, I emphasize the development of a growth mindset and strong habits of mind. Who my students become as people is just as, if not more so, important as the scores they make their standardized test – and reinforcing the habits of mind and the development of growth mindset skills with help students accomplish both.

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In light of this philosophy, it is worth noting that my community has multi-million dollar homes juxtaposed to dilapidated trailer parks. While some of my students travel the world during breaks, others are starving and living in run-down homes or are homeless. Some of my students come from nuclear, supportive families, with two parents and stable living conditions. Many more of my students live with their grandparents or come from single parent families. A dismaying amount of them have one or more parents who are dead or in jail. As a result, the degree of familial support will vary. Consequently, it is crucial that all of my students, especially those who have challenging home lives, feel supported, valued, and heard and learn the skills needed to support, value, and hear others as well. As a person who came from a broken home, I know first-hand how crucial feeling loved, valued, and heard in the context of school can be. Every day, we begin our class with a motto I first heard in a TED Talk by Rita Pierson: "I am somebody. I was somebody when I came, and I'll be a better somebody when I leave. I am powerful and I am strong. I deserve the education that I get here. I have things to do, people to impress, and places to go" (TED, 2013). Keeping this mantra in mind, we speak often of our responsibility to be scholars, leaders, and advocates. 

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I truly hold that while my name may be posted on the door, the space in which students learn much be just as much, if not more, theirs. Moreover, I seek to ensure that my classroom not only reflects, but is responsive to, the incredible diversity contained within its walls. The literature we study is tailored to students’ specific backgrounds and contexts so that they can develop the personal connections to the content they need in order for the content to be meaningful and to promote academic achievement. Doing so allows our space to be reflective of our diversity and allows students to be exposed to different cultures and different ways of thinking. As students are exposed to new perspectives and ways of thinking, they will be better positioned to question their own perspectives and implicit biases, thereby allowing them to be more inclusive of others. Furthermore, my goal in educating students is not to teach them what to think, but to instead teach them how to think critically and creatively about problems and situations that will help them become not only college and career ready, but also better people.

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