My name is Gabrielle Winters and I am an under-graduate at Longwood University. I am in my last year and a half of my education, and will be entering the teaching world in the fall of 2018. Education has and always will be an integral part of who I am. My ideals as an English teacher are driven by my deep love of education, and my desire to help students gain the education they need and deserve. I believe that learning is based on improvement, not just on mastery of content. It is my goal as an English teacher to promote student improvement above all else, with the over-arching goal of mastery. Choice is an integral aspect of student engagement. If students feel that they have some control over their education, they will be more engaged in learning. Providing choice in reading assignments, format of assignments are just two ways in which I will give students the opportunity to exert control over their education. I am constantly searching out new ways to engage students. Choice is just one manner to do this, providing materials that appel to student interests is also an important way to keep students engaged. I also believe that instruction should be student centered. I believe a teacher should be a “coach” in the classroom A teacher should be there to help students get to where they need to be in there learning, while allowing students to take control of their learning. Students should be able to come into the classroom and learn without the teacher lecturing and students simply taking notes. Students should be able to seek out answers to questions that are, at first posed by the teacher, but later posed by the students themselves. Teachers are there to guide students to the knowledge they need to succeed in their education and in their life.