Deborah L Kaplan

The best leaders help people learn and grow – Appreciative Leadership

Education is my heart song. When thinking about children, I look at the whole child and take into consideration that all children learn in different ways. I believe that children are natural learners, soaking up the world around them like sponges. I see children as being creative, resourceful, powerful and capable human beings. In an elementary classroom setting, I create a safe place to support children as they continue to question, explore, learn to write and read, create and make sense of the world around them. I value the relationship between the student, family and school community.

As a teacher I am a guide for my students and a resource; I work with each child, understanding how they learn, while supporting differentiated learning needs. To the families, I am a resource and a partner in their child’s education. I am here to learn and to teach.

Fostering social skills, supporting coping strategies and classroom management skills are essential tools in my teacher toolbox. Meditation and mindfulness are also practices that I bring into the classroom to give students the tools to self regulate, take a moment to breathe, focus and make wise choices. If the classroom is distracted by one student, this can take away from the learning experience for all. Understanding how to support that one student while orchestrating a lesson is a necessary strategy to have for the learning to take place.

Connecting students to the text or lesson has to be fun to get them engaged and excited about learning. I have noticed that especially in 1st grade I see students reading and writing below grade level. This issue not only spills out into language arts but other subjects as well. For example, A first grade math lesson using word problems. If the students can’t read the word problem, how can they understand what they are learning and complete the problem? Creating a classroom environment that gives the students the self confidence to make mistakes and help them understand that there are tools at their fingertips that can help them, is one of the most important parts of my job as an educator.

I strive to continue to serve children, and future education professionals in the hopes of raising the level of education for our children and to increase professionalism in the field of education. I also want to help create an environment where all people see themselves as advocates for children so that all children have an opportunity to be successful in all of their educational, personal and professional endeavors.

• UCLA Guest Lecturer Spring 2015 – Topic: Emergent Curriculum; Classroom management techniques and Curriculum Development.
• Lead adult education sessions with preschool parents. Topics include, From Play to Practice© Teaching and Parenting with Love and Logic©.
• PAJE conference summer 2014 Los Angeles, Ca - Workshop creator and presenter: So What’s Jewish about Your Block Area?

• NAEYC Member since 1993
• NAREA member since 2012 (North American Reggio Alliance)
• ECE URJ member since 2012 (Early Childhood Education Union of Reform Judaism)
• National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators
• Adult Infant and Child CPR certification 1995 - current