Seize the Moment!!

“To fashion a dynamic and positive classroom is to contribute in real ways to a more dynamic and positive world.”

I love this quote because it shows the importance of a dynamic and positive classroom for each of your children. As a teacher, you are teaching the world. You have a big job in front of you. It helps me take my schooling more serious and helps me keep the children of the future in my mind always.

“Simply put, opportunity is more closely related to exhilaration than to drudgery. Genuine opportunity may be frightening, because it seems out of reach, but it is seldom stultifying. Opportunity requires hard work, but it is work with a purpose—it is work in pursuit of a dream.”(Carter, 2001, p.70)

This quote says it all. I love this quote.  There are many opportunities in our lives and the lives of our students that may be frightening because they seem so hard to accomplish but they are always worth the work. I have seen that many times in my life already and I am sure there are a lot more opportunities in front of me.

A wise teacher understands that virtually everything in the classroom will work better if it “belongs to us” rather than “belonging to me.”

I think that many teachers forget this concept or have never realized it. When you open your classroom and make it the class’ room, you are breaking down walls that have been built and you create an opportunity to let each of the students feel like they are in a “safe” zone.

There were many other quotes in these chapters that I really like but these are the top 3.

Creating Community!!

I feel so energized and excited to create a community in my classroom through Morning Meetings!! Sylvia Allan gave me a good idea of how a successful morning meeting works. She helped me to see how important it is to take the time to create unity and address ideas so that you can avoid major problems in the future. I really loved having her in our class and hope to apply all I learned in my future classes.

Try Try Try

Tomlinson says, “The truth is, we will never really do all each child needs us to do.” Later on this page she says, “The point is not to entertain guilt. The point is to relentlessly seize the remarkable opportunity of a teacher to shape lives – to do the best we can to ensure that we are better at reaching children today than yesterday, better at it this year than last.”

How true!!! As sad as the comment about never really doing all each child needs us to do, it is very true. We are only one person with a small amount of time in the child's life but we can still make a difference if we try. I really liked what Esme said, "Even if I fail, I have to try and try and try. It may be exhausting but that is beside the point." That's what makes the difference. Do we give up on the student because we won't ever be able to meet their needs? No! We do all we can to help them succeed and become exhausted. That is a sign of a good teacher...being exhausted. I think each of us teachers need to remember to continue trying. If you don't try, you won't ever succeed.

Establishing Ties

I loved what Tomlinson says about establishing ties, "..teachers who are willing to establish ties with students discover new depths of truth each day.....There are, of course, things teachers are supposed to know--ideas, skills, understandings they are charged with transmitting to the young. Such teachers are willing to be vulnerable learners. The puzzle pieces of knowledge and ideas they 'own' make sense more fully when combined with the mysteries of each of the lives in the classroom." This is so true!! Those teachers are the teachers that make differences, they are the teachers that shape the future. We, as teachers, are to learn from our students as much as they learn from us. As teachers, if we are open to learning as we teach there will be so many opportunities for us to grow and "discover new depths of truth each day". I am excited to uncover mysteries as a teacher.

An example of a teacher who is willing to establish ties with students to discover new depths of truth is a teacher I worked with many years ago in a kindergarten class. Mrs. Andrus didn't worry about what other teachers thought about her, she just loved her children. There wasn't a day where she would pull me aside to share something she learned from her children. I quickly learned for myself to be a vulnerable learner and establish ties. I thank her still for that example!