As I was polishing my presentation for KySTE this morning, this quote came to mind. I remember it being printed out and posted in several teacher’s rooms when I was a high school student. Those were the “Print Shop Days” when it was new and innovative to print out little motivational posters.
It went nicely with the theme of my presentation so I lead with it. I haven’t read any full works by this author but a five minute scan of his bio makes me think he has influenced educators ad education more then we might think.
Here’s the text of the quote… you can copy it and make your own little poster for your classroom. And when you are having ‘one of those days’ be sure to read it and reflect on the meaning behind it.
Also, for those unable to get in to the KySTE session (thank you all, by the way, for showing up! I’ve never been more honored and humbled than to have a standing room only crowd of my peers show up when there were dozens of other choices!) the presentation and the notes are can be viewed by selecting the ‘Training” tab up top.
Quote:
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 tremendous power to make a student’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 student humanized or de-humanized.
Hiam Ginott
Also, if you want a link to the video I used it is embedded below… Just FYI there is some PG-13 language in it so use discretion if viewing at school.
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