A Dose of Inspiration

Inspiration is what many people need right now - a push, a cheer, a word of encouragement to dream and to make it real.

I would like to share with you another inspiring video entitled Leading Out Loud. I trust that you and your students will find a great dose of inspiration from this one. Watch, enjoy and be moved to lead out loud!

Thank You, Teacher!

"Teaching is a vocation; not a profession." Often we hear this from teachers, like us, and sometimes those who get to hear us never really understand what we mean.

It is only when we get to be teachers that we realize the truth to this assertion. Yes, being a teacher does not only entail great talent and skills but great patience and understanding; does not only demand much of our time but much of our love; does not only require us to simply teach concepts but to educate for life.

And always remember, if you are seeking personal gain and happiness as a teacher, you may never find it until you get to focus on those little achievements your students are having and those sparkling eyes telling you of the happiness they are experiencing.

The following video clip entitled "Thank You, Teacher" is meant to inspire all of us, teachers, so that in moments we get frustrated and think of giving up, we just remember how blessed we are to have been given the chance to touch someone else's life... and make the world a better place!

Make a Difference

Looking for meanig in your life? Feeling down and worthless? Wanting to make a difference but you seem to be too ordinary to do it? Well, here's a video that will definitely make you feel good about yourself and will move you to action. Go, be inspired and make a difference.




And to all teachers out there, you may want to share this clip with your students so that they, too, get to be inspired!

Back to School

Now that we are to once again embark on another journey as the new school year is about to start (at least here in the Philippines), it might be good to equip ourselves with some simple techniques that will help us make our teaching life a lot more easier and happier.

Here are some Be... ideas that we may try out this school year, and see for ourselves the magic these can do to improve the way we relate with our students.

1. Be generous of praise where praise is deserved. Yes, even little things our students have done well need acknowledgement. It is through providing a sincere compliment that we motivate them to continue on doing what's good and then to eventually excel.

2. Be honest about how you feel. If you are angry, frustrated, excited, glad, worried, it is best for the students to know especially if this will affect them. Example is when you feel sick. Tell your students, so that they know exactly how to adjust to the situation. I remember how I would tell my students how severe my migraine was, so I would appreciate them being more cooperative. And true enough, they would behave as requested.

3. Be attentive. Listen not just to what their words are saying but more importantly to what their voice and body language are saying. Even if a student tells you that he is okay and that there's nothing wrong, but the tone of his voice and his facial expressions tell you otherwise, then take that extra effort to find out exactly how he feels.

4. Be respectful of your students' rights. Do you know that you and your students have the same exact set of rights? If you have the right to voice out your opinion, to give feedback, and to deny a request, then your students have those same rights too. What we need is to do then is to model exactly how these rights are exercised in the classroom. And how is that? With much consideration for choice of words, tone of voice,and body language to go with it.

5. Be considerate of the feelings of others. If you need to reprimand your students, do it in private. A tactful correction in private is better than public humiliation. Humiliating a student in public,aside from prohibitied by school regulations, can force the student to be defensive and to start a fight with you. And when power play begins, you can expect a more difficult life in the classroom, with this student around.

6. Be genuinely interested in all of your students. Try to like your students, all of them, even the dullest and the most troublesome. I know this is easier said that done, but it's worth giving a try. Always look for that goodness, that something likeable about each student and capitalize on it. And that is exactly how a teacher's life becomes enriched by his dealings with students of all kinds.

7. Be happy. Smile. We know for a fact that students never like or rever a terror in the classroom. Smiling with the students, when there's something to smile about, is well appreciated by them. It establishes rapport; it makes them feel comfortable; and it contributes to the conduciveness of the learning environment. After all, it takes 65 muscles to frown, but only 15 to smile.

8. Be personal. Call them using their names. There's something about a person's name that makes a person stop and listen when called by someone. Aside from this helps you easily manage a class if students know that you know them individually and that you may call them anytime, it also gives students a great sense of security when they know that the teacher knows them already.

9. Be ready to help. Listen to their gripes and problems,and find a way how you can help them. You may not necessarily have the solution to their problem, but at least you could enlighten them so as to keep them from turning to the wrong path.

10. Be positive. A positive person creates a positive force that embraces the people surrounding him. Think positive, feel positive, and see how the law of positive attraction works for you and your students.

INSPIRING TEACHERS

My husband owns a book entitled God’s Little Devotional Book for the Workplace. I have always referred to it every time I need something to perk me up and to keep me going.

I know, as teachers, we have moments like this when we need a little lift or a little push as we face challenging situations everyday in school and in the classroom. Let me then equip you with a dozen beautiful lines which I have adapted from the book. I trust that you, my dear teachers, will find true inspiration in them.

Start reading, believing, and make them work for you.

• Before beginning your class every day, never forget to say, “The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now.”
• The happiest teachers don’t necessarily have the best students; they just make the best of their every student.
• By teaching your students very well, you are doing a great deed and meeting a dire need.
• Give to your students the best you have and see the best of them coming back to you.
• Looking at my students, I see great educators. Yes, every student is my teacher; I indeed learn something from each of them every day.
• The difference between ordinary teachers and extraordinary ones is that little extra.
• If you want to be truly great in this profession, be great in the eyes of the greatest teacher --- JESUS!
• The greatest quality that any teacher can possess is the ability to get along with different kinds of students. It is a quality worth paying more for than any other.
• There is a word for teachers who won’t correct their students: failure.
• Your good example is your best sermon.
• The most wasted class day is that in which we have not laughed with our students.
• Part of our unwritten responsibilities as teachers is to love our students more than they deserve.