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| My friend led a staff meeting last year - this comic was included and dedicated to me. via |
Yesterday I went on a trip with my Year 5/6 students. There's a student teacher in one of the other classes now who used to be one of 'my parents.' I've been lucky enough to teach two of her three (gorgeous) daughters when they were in the Montessori Unit. She was telling me about a student that I worked with in the Unit in my first year there, upon whom I left a lasting impression (a good one). The thing is, he was never my student. I interacted with him no more than 10 times, while I was in the 9-12 class (I was teaching in the 6-9 class at that time) and I was covering the class while the teacher was at Morning Tea. I'm not sure
what I did for this child (er... young man now - he's 21 - ugh), or what was so different, but
something I did affected him - enough that it's stayed with him, nine years later. Being the sap that I am, if I wasn't on a trip, I would have burst into tears right then and there (I managed to keep it together though.) I just felt like it was such a powerful reminder of the effect teachers can have on any students they interact with on a day-to-day; week-to-week or month-to-month basis. So thankful that I left some sort of positive impact in a child's life!
I try to revisit this poem at least once a year... for a small reminder...
A Teacher's Revelation:
I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It's my personal approach that creates the climate.
It's my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In
all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be
escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.
-- Haim Ginot, Child Psychologist via
2 comments:
Wow. That's a good one. Isn't it fantastic to be remembered in such a way. That quote is great. It's good for all leaders! :-)
It was a pretty great moment, but at the same time very humbling that something small to me may be of great consequence to any child I work with.
A co-worker sent that poem through to all of us a few years ago and I thought it was fantastic. Never thought of it in terms of all leaders, but you're absolutely right!
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