These are some key principles that have guided, and will continue to guide, my practice:

Meeting the Social-Emotional Needs of Learners

I believe meeting the social-emotions needs of all learners to be one on the most critical aspects of education. I think all learners should be equip to read and comprehend emotional states in others, manage strong emotions in a constructive manner, self-regulate, establish & maintain relationships, and develop empathy for others. Without setting learners up with these tools, academic achievement will not hold any weight. If we want learners to be contributing community members, their social-emotional needs must be prioritized.

Relationships

I believe building authentic, meaningful relationships with learners to be the most important aspect of teaching. To put it bluntly, people do not learn from those they do not like. This is not to say that teaching is a popularity contest, but instead, if teacher invest in their learners as human beings, and make genuine efforts to connect with them, the students will learn more.

Inclusivity

All students have the right to learn in environments where they feel both emotionally and physically safe, as well as included. Building safe, inclusive communities in classrooms is something I work very hard to achieve, setting firm expectations, and designating time each and every day towards community building exercises, games, and activities.

Empathy

I believe modelling and entitling a strong sense of empathy in all learners is vital. The more traditionalist in my would argue that by producing empathetic citizens, school will create people who enter the workforce who will tackle social issues and injustices; by creating empathetic students, we are creating good citizens. While I firmly stand behind this, I think there is a more important reason to teach students to be empathetic: the K-12 school system should be trying to teach students how to be good people. In my opinion, help create good people should be the primary focus across the curriculum.

Critical Thought

All students should have skills surrounding critical thought. Students today have unprecedented access to information and misinformation. Skills surrounding critical thought have always been important. Whether its deciding who one votes for, deeming a source to be credible or not, or ethical decision making, these skills have been important, will continue to be important, and will likely be even more important/relevant as our students foyer into a unpredictable future.

Ownership of Learning

I consider student ownership of learning to be a key principle that guides my practice. I think if a student tries their best and adopts a growth mindset, they will have learning or a finished product that they can be proud of. If a student does not do these things, the result will likely be something one would not be proud of, and the student has to own that learning, or lack thereof, as well. Student ownership of learning does not mean throwing learner in the deep end, or abandoning them. Instead, it means scaffolding in skills, setting clear criteria and expectations, being available to help, and creating an environment for students to learn; once such things have been accomplished, the rest of the responsibility lies on the learner. Student ownership of learning promotes responsibility, self-reliance, work-ethic, resiliency, and a sense of pride in the work/learning accomplished.