10) Sometimes, old school is good school. You don’t have to jump on the bandwagon just because it’s the latest method or the newest gadget. And remember: when it comes to technology, there’s always a trade-off.
another lesson: dress professionally. Photo credit: thechive.com
9) You can’t change the world, but you can change a life…and maybe the life you change will go on and change the world.
8) Adults involved in education are really good at pointing fingers, and really bad about accepting responsibility.
7) Teachers are the worst students. We huff and puff about students staying on task in class, but we can’t seem to do it in a staff meeting.
6) Anger is weakness; calm is strength.
5) You must have the eyes of an assassin….metaphorically speaking, of course.
4) No matter how bad you screwed up the day before, the sun will rise tomorrow.
3) Don’t fool yourself. There is no such thing as “sometimes consistent.” You either are or you are not consistent. One slip, and you aren’t consistent. Simple as that.
2) Learn to relish saying the word “no.” Seriously. It will save both you and your students.
1) The buck stops with the adults. We can spew all the blatherskeit we can about “kids these days,” but really, the adults reap what we sow.
You thought that was #1, but here’s the REAL number 1:
You’d be surprised with what you can get away with.
What I mean by that is not, of course, doing illegal and immoral things. I’m talking about Christian teachers delving into religious and spiritual topics. Many are soooo scared of violating some nebulous cultural more we call “the separation of church and state.” Some think that you can’t even mention religion in schools at all! But really, with a little prayer, a little guts, and a little wisdom, you really can talk about all sorts of things. Hey, liberals, atheists, and agnostics do it all the time; why not Christians? This whole “separation of church and state” stuff is juts a paper tiger.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
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First, let me say how glad I am that people like you are teaching our children. I’m normally against cloning on ethical grounds, but in your case I’ll make an exception. I feel sorry for the kids who are mainly taught by liberals.
Great point about “what you can get away with.” I taught Junior Achievement classes for 12 years to all different grades and was able to work in various ethical and Biblical concepts. You just have to look for appropriate openings. Kudos to you for being intentional about that.
Anger is weakness; calm is strength.
POWERFUL TOOL!
CONSISTENCY CONSISTENCY!
Are you sure we can’t blame the kids? If not, can we at least blame other adults?
I’m not in the classroom now, but I plan to be in a couple of years, and I’ve worked with teens for a few years, and number 10 is my motto. Well, my actual motto is this: “New isn’t good just because it’s new.”
I love old school thought. I read somewhere today that “education is badly in need of fresh and innovative technologies.” That thinking won’t improve education at all.
Thanks for stopping by, Charles!
Nope…its the adults, plain and simple. The kids will do whatever we let them do. Now, its *all* the adults, parents included, but the buck stops with us.
Enjoy reading this post. P.S I love the photo of the guy dressed up as Electra, that is just too funny.
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