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I have been in the Hotel business right out of college. I loved it…..I craved it. I was also very passionate about teaching, but I wasn’t ready to venture there. When I became a mom with my first child, I truly discovered the emotional feeling of what real love is. The true meaning of the word love that passes through every fiber of your being is when you gaze into the eyes of your baby the second your baby enters the world, and you are overcome with a feeling of warmth and incredible emotions. It’s surreal! I am LOVE! To be able to love and give love, I feel that a person has to be love. Anyway, I was working as a manager for years with the Marriott Hotel and decided that I had to go with this feeling in me to become a teacher. I went back to college and took classes at night’s, gave up my cushy management job “cold turkey” , and started working as a teaching assistant. My first day was a blast! I told myself that I have found my calling in life. I have been teaching for about 9 years in Boca Raton, Florida. I am passionate about teaching with a commitment to provide instruction that fosters child development and the learning process. I am willing to go the extra mile to help wherever needed. I relate very well to students and have discovered ways to help calm and redirect children with emotional needs. I have a strong desire to make a difference in the lives of young people, thus presenting materials in an enthusiastic manner and instill a hunger in my students to learn more on their own. I give all of my students a chance to succeed in my classroom, even when the conditions at home are not favorable for the student. I allow students to do their best and recognize those that try. I foster a positive reinforcing, cooperative environment. I do believe that effective teaching not only involves being passionate about what you teach, but also to convey it to the students in such a way that they will understand it, and be able to apply it in some way in their lives. I believe that every successful teacher must have humor. I think I have a good sense of humor. Laughter goes a long way in showing the students that the teacher is just a person, like himself or herself. I don’t over-do it, I try to figure out when to laugh at myself and when to laugh with the class. Humor within the classroom can ease any frustration that a teacher and or student may be experiencing at that moment. My first principal told his teachers that we are “Star Polishers”. I was flabbergasted by this. He gave us all beautiful canvas tote bags with The Star Polisher Poem etched onto it in radiant colors. Here is the magnificent poem: The Star Polisher by Leah Becks I have a great job in the universe of occupations. What do I do? I'm a "star polisher." It's a very important job. If you want to know how important, just go out at night and look at the stars twinkling and sparkling. You see, I'm a teacher. The stars are the children in my class. My job is to take them in - in whatever shape they come - and shine and buff them and then send them out to take their places as bright little twinkling beacons in the sky. They come into my room in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they're bent, tarnished, dirty, crinkly and broken. Some stars are cuddly, soft and sweet. Some stars are prickly and thorny. As I buff, polish, train and teach my little stars, I tell them that the world cannot do without them. I tell them they can do anything they set their minds to do. I tell them they can be the brightest, shiniest stars in the sky and the world will be a better place because of them. Each night as I look at the sky, I'm reminded of my very important job and awesome responsibility. I go and get my soft buffing cloth and my bottle of polish in preparation for tomorrow and for my class of little stars. From then on, I thought of myself as a star polisher and a difference maker. I believe and recognize individuality in all my students, because every student has a life, a story, a thought, and feelings that they bring with them to the classroom and the learning process. I try to treat my students as they’re mine…..my own flesh and blood. I treat them the way I would want a teacher to treat my 2 sons. In my quiet moments, I try to discover ways to help that problem child, and by the grace of God, I usually find a way. That is one reason why I consider my classroom a sacred place, a haven. I do not allow anyone to enter my class and say anything negative in my classroom, because negativity sticks to the walls and can never ever come off and taint the happy and positive environment. I will quickly usher them out of the room in an instance. I use gentle calming mantra, and I will spray a mist of Archangel Raphael that I get from The Crystal Gardens Store, to invite and invoke happiness, peace and healing in my class. I am also a spiritual healer and a Reiki Master, so I strongly sustain my theory. What you see with me, is what you get, and that is pure and genuine happiness; I am just my energetic, colorful lively self helping to raise the spirits and foster a love for learning with children. In summary, my goal each year is to teach the whole person approaches, which to me are the cognitive, affective, and, behavioral dimensions of the human being. I often time refer to the film classic, THE WIZARD OF OZ as being a wonderful allegory for what I want my students to learn. You see, an effective teacher is like the wizard who must help each individual appreciate the potential that resides within all of us. The potential to make the best use of our minds, our hearts, and those behaviors that can make the world a better place.
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