Who I Am in the Lives of Children

• Write a one-page personal philosophy statement of your beliefs, based on research and experience, about how children learn.
• Assemble twenty to thirty photos of children engaged in learning inside and outside of your classroom. Write short captions that express how the children are learning. (See sample captions.)
• Include a cover with your name, school and at least one photo showing who you are.
• Include another sheet with name, address, phone number, teaching experiences, degrees held, any special training or skills, and significant continuing education training.
• Consider including a page providing photos and captions about your family and/or your special interests.
• Highlight key pieces of early literacy and child development research.
• Emphasize research on how the brain learns best.
• Include favorite quotes.
• You might even include one of those wonderful picture-letters that kindergartners spontaneously send — “To teacher. I love you. From Joshua.”
• Choose some of your favorite colors for the photo pages and develop a consistent, unifying theme (i.e. pages in primary colors, pictures with photo corners, and print on white).
• Organize the pages inside plastic sheet protectors in a white 3 ring view binder.

Consider this book as an ongoing project that might help you:

• Introduce yourself to the parents of your students. Consider doing captions in English and Spanish.
• “Sell yourself” in applying for a teaching job.
• Articulate who you are in the lives of children for school evaluation purposes.
• Meet the practicum requirement for professional development credit.
• Document your professional growth as a part of National Board Certification.
• Meet district requirements for new teachers developing professional growth plans.
• Have a wonderful memory book of your passion for exemplary kindergarten teaching and the young children whose lives you have touched.

Tip: 4x6 or 5x7 pictures work best.

You are welcome to use or adapt any of the materials included in this document with credits noted. We would be pleased to have you send us a black and white copy of your photo essay.
Nellie Edge Seminars, Inc., P.O. Box 12399, Salem, OR 97309-0399

Personal Philosophy and Photo Essay: Sample Captions
My Kindergarten Teaching Philosophy