Well, I've completed a three day week of school and it was great! I can't tell you how good it was to get back into the classroom. I love my classes and am looking forward to the rest of the year. I know it's early, but i got great feedback from my students. We spent most of the week building relationships and developing CLASS RULES. I do this WITH the students. One of their rules was to allow "Random dancing while in class" . So, I included that rule, with a minor exception. They can't do it when it interferes with instructional time. Not sure any other teachers have a rule allowing dancing in the classroom. In college teachers used to be taught not to smile until Thanksgiving or they would lose control of their classroom. Many teachers develop rules that are more like BATTLE LINES than rules. Don't do this, don't do that, or else!
Learning is a cooperative effort, not a battle. I'm sure I will have students who won't cooperate at some time this year. How a teacher deals with that is more important than any rule they can come up with. We need to choose our BATTLES. FIGHT THE RIGHT FIGHT! It's not us against them. Life is the same way. We need to choose our battles, love more than hate, share our joy! Concentrate on the positive !
Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. (1 Thessalonians 5:15 NIV84)
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