Miss Carnie's Teaching Philosophy   (Expository paragraph)

“Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow, grow.'" - The Talmud  

   For me, teaching is a perfect and continually interesting fit of   three important loves in my life.  First, I love learning about writing, American literature, technology, teaching methods, grammar, and everything else that has to do with English III.  The truth is that every good teacher is first a learner!  I often spend hours browsing on the internet looking for  better information  or strategies to use.  As I find interesting information, I enjoy thinking about how  to incorporate it into the next lesson.  As I'm searching through the internet about an author, subject, or skill I want to teach, I often lose track of time.  In short, learning is so much fun for me that it's sometimes hard to make myself go home at the end of the day! In addition, I always make it a personal game to try to teach the lesson to the next period in an  even more effective way.  Since each class contains a diverse group of individuals and its own personality as well, teaching itself is never boring for me (although babysitting gets old fast).  I love teaching so much that I naturally do it even if I am not being paid.  Most importantly, though,  equipping teens makes my day.  In fact, I sometimes break into a spontaneous “teacher dance” when I see my students have learned an important concept. Helping students develop their abilities and skills so that they can be self-supporting one day and give their individual gifts and talents  to the rest of us is a great privilege for me.   I love to watch and listen to students who are learning to evaluate an author’s ideas as well as to express their own views well. My joy is to give each teen, as the door opens, a listening ear, a caring heart, a straight answer, a new skill, a dream for the future, and an encouraging word. Clearly, teaching high school English challenges me personally and gives me great satisfaction as I get to enjoy the unique students I am privileged to teach every day.