Kristin Bourguet
Arizona Teacher of the Year
Marana High School, Tucson
Grades 9-12, Integrated Science, Education Professions

My teaching philosophy
Teachers play a very powerful role shaping the minds of young people. A teacher’s mindsets, skills, and actions are the most influential tool in sculpting the mindsets, skills, and actions of students. I believe that all students can achieve at high levels. As a result, my goal for each of my classes is for all students to receive credit for science class. In order for that to happen, students and their families both must also be invested in this goal. I work to create a culture of achievement in my classroom by creating a space where students feel safe and valued. At the beginning of the school year, I take time to learn about the needs and interests of my students. In addition, I also solicit information about my students from their parents or guardians. I spend a significant amount of time administering diagnostic exams in an effort to meet each child at their intersection of challenge and ability. These insights play a critical role in my ability to motivate my students and build a working relationship with them.

Teachers have the paramount responsibility to teach their students how to learn. As a result, it is a demanding profession that takes a substantial amount of time and energy. However there is no greater reward than watching students make connections, gain confidence, and take risks. I am humbled daily by the power of our profession. My work with my students has made me a better thinker, a daily dreamer, and a passionate believer that a good education can change a child’s disposition.

My philosophy in action
During the year, I work diligently to instill the mindset in my students that hard work leads to success. I accomplish this by requiring all of my students to complete all of their work each week, before taking the weekly assessment. If students have not completed their independent practice (homework), they are required to attend a GOAL (Great Opportunity to Achieve Learning) during their lunch period. During this time, I assist them with assignments and encourage their academic progress. Weekly progress reports are issued in order to show students the effect that hard work has on their grades. These reports are shared with parents or guardians in order to keep them abreast of their student’s academic performance. Partnering with students’ families has been the cornerstone of the success I have experienced in the classroom.

In addition, there is a strong emphasis placed on excellence in my classroom. Mediocrity is not acceptable. For example, the weekly assessments administered in my classroom are mastery quizzes. Students are required to obtain a 75% or higher on the quiz or they need to retake another version of it at a GOAL session. Failure in my class is not an option. When a student’s grade starts to dip, there are interventions implemented immediately. Whether a student is required to attend science tutoring or a parent conference is scheduled, it is critical that action is taken.

Lessons in my classroom are purposefully planned in order to keep the needs and interests of students in mind. Differentiated instruction, cooperative learning, inquiry, and problem-based learning are instructional strategies that I have commingled with the Arizona State Science Standards. In addition, strategic grouping of students has enabled me to work with each student at their individualized instruction level. I work relentlessly to make sure that the topics we discuss are relevant to the students. When students find the content relevant, they are intrinsically motivated to grapple with it. It is also essential that the content of the classes be rigorous. Next year, my current students will face the science portion of the AIMS test. The preparation for that exam occurs daily through higher-order questioning and challenging assignments.

My greatest teaching accomplishment
My second year teaching in Louisiana, I was the Environmental Architectural Design magnet program coordinator. My students learned about advanced technological applications and used their skills to design and implement service learning projects throughout our community. We worked together to design, fund, and build a large greenhouse on our school campus. My students’ efforts resulted in an invitation to the National Environmental and Spatial Technology Conference where my students were awarded with the first place award for project design. The experiences I had with my students in Louisiana inspired me to become a lifetime educator.

The most critical issues facing educators today

• Increasing the performance levels of students who are currently behind their peers academically (facing our nation’s achievement gap)
• Teaching English Language Learners with limited resources
• Keeping up with rapid technological advancement

• Increasing the performance levels of students who are currently behind their peers academically (Facing our nation’s achievement gap)
• Have high expectations for all of the students in your classroom
• Set high goals for each student
• Build positive relationships with each child in your classroom
• Diagnose each child’s ability and teach each child at their intersection of challenge and ability
• Invest the family members of your students in the goals that you have for them
• Work with a sense of urgency to help your students increase achievement levels
• Build a culture of achievement within your classroom
• Teach tolerance
• Make your classroom a multi-cultural classroom
• Teaching English Language Learners with limited resources
  
  • Differentiate instruction for the students in your classroom
  • Use Structured English Immersion or other research-based instructional strategies to teach your students
  • Invest your ELL students in you classroom goals
• Keeping up with rapid technological advancement
• Stay abreast of technological trends
• Seek out technological resources and expose your students to them

One thought to inspire teachers to succeed
This is a poem from a young Israeli teacher who sums up the awesome responsibility of teaching:

“I have come to a frightening conclusion.
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher, I possess the tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis can be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.”

One lesson every student should learn
Every student should learn the steps of the scientific method and how to internalize it. Once this has been mastered and internalized, students can use it to work though future problems and challenges.

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