Mission and vision statements are point blank hard. It’s very difficult to gather the goals and dreams of a program into a short three sentences that sum up the program as a whole. Now, I think that it is important for schools and classroom teachers to develop such mission statement so that they know and understand what their main purpose is every day that they come to school. However, it is nothing to get hung up on. People are not going to choose a program based on a mission statement, heck many proabably won’t even bother to look at it or read through it. But it is important for us to sit down and reflect on the values that we want our program to reflect through our mission statement.
Just a little while ago I was in a class that made me reflect on what values and ideals I wanted to uphold and foster within my classroom enviornment. A lot came to mind of course, honesty, compassion, respect, and kindness just to name a few. But then I started to reflect on how exactly I was going to accomplish this within my classroom. You see, I have always loves collaborative learning and I am a geek for hands on learning. This is when I realized that in my classroom these were two items that I would spend hours implementing in my class and through these items, I could reflect my values that I wanted foster.
Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for… my mission statement!
“In this classroom the mission is to build a collaborative learning community where young children can become better prepared for what is ahead. Through the use of collaborative learning, hands-on learning and play, children are challenged mentally and physically each and every day. Each day students will be provided with developmentally appropriate activities that will push them to be better learners, meaning children will only be asked to engage in learning and activities that are within the ability of the whole child, depending on their age and experiences.”
Now for a little debriefing. Collaborative learning and play were the two main pieces that I wanted to ensure were in my vision because they are the two things I feel very strong about. Through the use of collaborative learning we are giving students the tools that they need to work with one another and they are also discovering the learning on their own, at their own pace. Through the use of developmentally appropriate activites, I am showing the children that I respect where they are at and I am using this to guide the instruction.
I think it is important to note that not everyone has to agree with your mission statement. A mission statement is simply there to show what the program stands for and what they believe in. Mission statements are also a testament to a person and what they value. When creating a mission or vision statement it is first important to take a step back and reflect on the values and goals of the program, and then the mission statement can be constructed.
Miss Trone 