Assignment of TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

        Professionalism means, a person having good skills in particular job, adequate behavior and good judgment in a particular assigned task. Being a social worker to the students of Jan Mann Educational Center, I ensure my professionalism by having good knowledge about my job, giving respect; maintaining integrity, encouraging unity, team building and zeal for success.

        As a social worker with 13 years of experience both in Miami Dade County Public Schools and outside agenciesrespect has always been the top priority of my teaching to the students. Respect for cultural differences, respect for authority figure, respect for self and others. As the result of this, I started a Life Skills program called nothingbut Advice Club at Jan Mann Educational Center. With this club, I was able to bring different background of students that are dealing with emotional stress such as being placed in the foster system due to parents right being terminated by law, literacy challenges, felonies by partaking risky behavior, gang affiliation previously homeless with parents, currently living in a shelter with families, dealing with bereavement, expecting mothers, family domestic violence and being molested by love ones.

        With respect comes integrity. Most of the students do not have the concept of trust because they have been betrayed and abandoned by many for standing for what they believe in. My focus has been modeling what integrity looks like by being a role model carrying myself with respect when I interact with students and colleagues, show students that it is okay not to be perfect but to always stay true to themselves.

        Unity is a key factor in building community of learners that understood each other’s flaws and willing to work collaboratively for the success of others. I have dedicated my life to foster togetherness and team building. My aspiration is to see that students on this campustransition into the society as leaders, innovators, and team player to succeed in the complex society. I created what is called “Team Building Fireworks” on Wednesday during lunch with the high and middle school students.

        Zeal for success has always been my philosophy in life. As a single mother of a 17-year-old girl I can attest that resilience has been my driving force that made me accomplish my goal as becoming a social worker and spoke person for at-risk students. The passion for success has never been the culturalof my students because they never witness someone in their families who exhibiting success. Unfortunately, majority of them are on drugs, homeless, incarcerated or killed. My teaching philosophy has always been about teaching real life experiences that will enhance the behavior and success of my students.

2. My classroom environment is about positive behavior and reinforcement. As a School social worker, I practice the application of values, techniques, and inclusivenessof my school community, with familiesand individual setting. I conduct new research that would enhance me to better serve my students and attend professional development to improve my skills and strategies. If students were about to engaged in altercations, I would utilize conflict resolution skills by role playing and some new strategies learned from PD.

        Since social workrequiresinitializing situations to assess the needs of students, I incorporate strategies such as de-escalation, negotiation, conflict resolution, positive reinforcement services that is available to students and families to rectify the situations before it escalates involving authority.To provide adequate support to the students I use two major components: concern with producing effective service to my students and concern with gaining autonomy within the school community which involves the principal, counselors, teachers, paraprofessional and school support staff.Since my goals for my students is toidentify gap in academic performance and behavior, I tend to engage in an early intervention to reduce or eliminate stress; within or between students or groups.

3. During my 13 years of experience, I have implemented home-school connection problem-solving services to students, parents/guardians, school personnel, and community agenciesthrough early identification of students at risk; and work with various groups in school to develop coping, social, and decision-making skills.These are the steps I created behavior plan, behavior modification, parent/teacher conference. Also, Outside agencies are recommended after exhausted all the steps recommended by Miami Dade County Public Schools. In addition, some parent connection requires that emotional support to address presenting issues that occurs in daily living services such as T.A.P. that deals with pregnancy issues, Homeless Trust.