Humility. Patience. Kindness. These are all words that I think of when I am walking into my classroom. These are life goals, personal goals, and professional goals that I try to meet every single day. As I drive to work each day, I try to not just think of the work that my students need to complete, copies that need to be made, an email to a parent that needs to go out first thing, etc. Of course all of those things are thought of and a mental list is created for the morning before kids walk into my room. But I honestly, try to remember my three goals. Humility. Patience. Kindness. Humility. What does that even mean? Well, it means to have the heart of a learner. I tell my students to “trust the process.” If I am not willing to do just that, to try new teaching techniques or be willing to receive feedback from a colleague or administrator, then I have not achieved humility. To be humble means to be willing to learn, willing to have a conversation, and willing to ask for support when needed. The power of “YET” is a big thing in my classroom. If we don’t know it now, it just means we don’t know it YET! But I know I will at some point. Model this mindset for your students. They will appreciate to see that you, the amazing teacher that you are, are still trusting the process and learning along the way. It is a small, but great step on the path toward being better at being you. Patience. This one's a doozy! I have heard from an amazing wise man, that we will always have an opportunity to practice the area in which we need to grow the most. Well, you’ve guessed it. Patience is mine. For as long as I can remember, I have been one of those people who has always want “it” right now!!! :) I laugh to myself right now because, I can see how exhausting it is to live a life of “right now.” Isn’t it better to “just be?” It is better to be in the moment of your life that is good, bad, or mediocre (insert voice snippet from Mad Max: Fury Road). To be patient means to enjoy the classroom conversation, yes being mindful of the clock, but not rushing the learning and creative process. How often do we rush to get through the lesson/curriculum? Too often the expectation is to see how fast we can get to the end of the trip rather than stopping along the way to take pictures of the beautiful scenery. Patience… just be. Enjoy the ride. Kindness. This past Friday, I shared the video, Imagine by John Lennon with my students. So often people are judged by the way they look, where they live, the clothes they wear, how they learn, etc. These personal biases are sometimes passed down generation-to-generation. But think… I enter my classroom with a perspective and so does each one of my students. I wanted to show the Unicef version of the video because it has people from all over the world singing the beautiful and inspiring lyrics of John Lennon. My kids could not only hear but see diversity. We live in world that is filled with so much hate, judgement, closed mindedness that in order to create a growth mindset, in order to create a better tomorrow, we MUST start with kindness. If I do only one thing, teach my students one lesson, let it be that of kindness. I hope that they will learn to be kind to one-another, tolerant of one-another, to seriously treat others the way they want to be treated. On a side note, yes, I cry every time I hear that song because it is an honest hope of mine - that we may live in peace. Kindness is the first step. I may not achieve these goals on a daily basis, but by golly, I sure will try. I commit myself to striving toward these life goals. Your life goals may look differently. But they are your goals. That is amazing! Strive to be your best self and you will teach your students, and all you encounter, what it means to be a good human. That is my life goal. What’s yours?
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Mena, Each of these attributes are my daily prayer for myself and my students. We must keep working these goals so that as our students leave our classrooms they have the resiliency to bear the harshness and the hearts to choose to make a positive impact. You're a gift in their lives.
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9/25/2016 01:07:04 pm
In your treatise of these three attributes you have essentially built the "three legged stool" upon which a life of purpose can be supported, reach higher and see further. Excellent.
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Mena T. HillEducator, Wife, Mother, Colorado Native Archives
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