Patrick Wensyel

I am an AACPS: Teacher, Riviera Beach Elementary School | 2020 Teacher of the Year Honoree

My philosophy of education is that all children have the unlimited ability to succeed. Students need to be cultivated in an environment that demands high expectations, encourages student discourse, engages in meaningful real-world learning tasks, and fosters strong caring relationships in order to reach their full potential. These four elements are the driving force in my classroom.    

All students thrive on demanding the highest level of achievement they can attain. By holding students to consistent high expectations, they are fueled by the inner desire to reach their best. I feel that by keeping the expectations of my students high, they gain greater insight to how amazing they are, and how high their potential is. 

Every classroom needs to be its own community.  My role as the teacher is to create a family atmosphere within my classroom. I foster that type of cooperative environment by creating hands-on learning activities with challenging tasks to promote productive struggle as well as cooperative learning experiences. Students learn the most through rich discourse.  

All students, in order to be actively engaged, need to see that their learning is relevant to their journey in life. My students know that learning is never ceasing.  I want them to embrace that the day to day academic, social, and emotional learning that takes place in my classroom is going to be carried with them throughout their life. I create tasks and activities that are relevant in the real-world and foster active engagement in my students.  

Finally, students need to believe in me as their teacher in order to perform at their highest level. Students come to me with a variety of experiences that could close themselves to learning. I build relationships that prove to students that I care for them as people not just test scores. I develop relationships through conversations that allow students to trust in me as someone who is going to advocate for them and truly care about them as people.