Words To Live By

For today's blog, we wanted to share a quote from Dr. Haim Ginott who wrote the book Between Parent and Child.  Whenever you feel like you don't have any control over things in your student's lives, please remember these powerful words...

“I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in my classroom. It's my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess  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.”

Change begins with us.  As a behavior coach, I've seen staff in this district bring about amazing and wonderful changes in the lives of the students they work with. We can't control anything but ourselves, luckily, that's all it takes.