The impact we have

Have you ever thought about the impact your childhood has had on you as a teacher? Have you ever thought about how your past impacts the future of the children you care for? Dr. Tamar Jacobsen has written an interesting book, Don't Get So Upset. When we realize that research has shown us that "emotional memory stored in the brain during the first 4 or 5 years of life is un-erasable," you realize the enormity of responsibility we have when we care for children. Yet, our reactions to children's behavior is very often a reaction to the parenting we received. WOW! This book helps you to work through and think about your own life and its impact in your classroom. This reflective practice pays dividends for children. The author included a favorite quote that has impacted me over the years as well. I'd like to share it with you:
"I've come to a frightening conclusion. I am the decisive element in the classroom. IT is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher 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 deescalated and a child humanized or dehumanized. " Haim Ginott (1972)