Each student is important. Remembering that brings me the teaching inspiration I need. To help me remember this, I place a penny in my shoe. For most of the day, the penny goes un-noticed. Occasionally, however, I feel the penny and when I do I make a mental note to remember how special each and every student is. As I treat each student with special care like they are somebody important, I find myself enjoying teaching.
In my personal life, I believe that everyone is a child of God, so that's specifically what I remind myself of--each student is a child of God. It helps me to think about how Jesus would treat each student. It also helps me to think about what the bible states in Matthew 25 that Jesus will say to those who show kindness, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these...ye have done it unto me". I try to imagine the face of my Savior on each child because according to that scripture, when I show care to any one of them I am also showing it to Jesus in a way. As I do this, the stresses of teaching (standards and grades and assessments and more) melt away. I still need to take care of all those things, mind you, but I am filled with happiness as I do because my focus is on the people rather than the other stuff.
If you don't believe the same way as me, you can modify your self-message accordingly. But this strategy of using the penny (or some other method) to remind yourself about how special each student is remains a powerful way to find fulfillment as a teacher.
You may even consider using the rocks shown in the Amazon link below to give to students reminding them of their worth. Click here to view them.
If you are looking for more encouragment for teaching, you might enjoy my blog post about teacher laughter. (Click here to view it.) You might also enjoy just browsing my blog archive to read all the uplifting messages
As always, hang in there, Teach!
Happy Teaching,
Frank
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