Some teachers knew they wanted to become teachers when they were younger; but that was not me.  Growing up, I had always loved school, and I had benefited greatly from the small class sizes I had in private school.  Upon graduation, I chose a profession that would grant me the financial stability and independence I yearned for as a young adult.  And then, everything changed during the pandemic.

During the first year of the pandemic, I had the privilege of working from home and spending more time with my son.  However, I struggled to teach him what I thought were basic concepts in reading and math.  I was also growing increasingly alarmed by the numerous headlines about teacher burnout and the subsequent teacher shortages.  As a parent, I felt I could no longer stand on the sidelines and yearned to connect more deeply with my son.  In the spring of 2022, I decided to leave my career in finance, which I had been in for almost twenty years, and begin the journey to become a teacher.

In the beginning, I thought a lot about the skills that would bridge me to the teaching profession.  As a former finance executive at a multinational software company, I joked with my colleagues that I would do all of my lesson planning in Excel.  I also had a lot of experience delivering presentations of financial results at board meetings, so I have the communication skills to deliver clear instruction in the classroom.  Running the finance department also meant I was fanatical about deadlines and tracking progress, so those qualities will also translate into the teaching environment as well.

However, as I think about my future classroom, I believe what’s more important are the values I will bring into the classroom.  Here are my top three values for the classroom:

1. Kindness and Respect
2. Growth Mindset
3. Self-Reliance

Without a strong foundation in Kindness and Respect, it would be very difficult to build a positive classroom community.  In school, I want every student to feel like they belong and that they are empowered on their own learning journeys.  I strongly believe that children learn not only from their teachers, but also from each other.  With kindness and respect, students will feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts.  Like different departments within a company, each of us has different gifts and different ways to contribute.

In the classroom, I will also emphasize the importance of a Growth Mindset.  Pioneered by the author and Stanford psychologist, Carol Dweck, the Growth Mindset is that belief that with hard work, perseverance and practice, people can tackle complex problems and absorb new concepts.  There has been a lot of neuroscience research around the plasticity of the brain, and this ability to learn new things is not just for young students but for adults as well.  As an example, my godmother returned to college in her 40s after her two sons had gone to college.  See, she was born in 1924, and left college to help out with the war effort.  Following in her footsteps, I find myself now in my 40s back in school for a masters degree in Education and teaching credential.

The last value I hope to instill in my classroom is that of Self-Reliance.  I will try my best to make my instruction engaging for the whole classroom, but I expect students to be active learners so they can take the reins on their own learning journey.  We will take steps to build on foundational knowledge, but the real magic happens when curiosity is sparked and a student dives into a particular subject.  After having mastered self-reliance in their learning journeys, students can take self-reliance into other areas of their lives to become productive individuals in our community.