Quote I Try to Live By

"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."
-Carol Buchner

I found this quote during my year as an educational assistant. This immediately stuck with me and was what I was almost already living by. But it put it so nicely into words that I wrote it down immediately. This quote has become the foundation of my philosophy to teaching.

I strongly feel that the connection we make with our students is a huge part of classroom management, attendance and environment in our classroom. I think that if our students connect with us and respect us then they will have an understanding in the class towards us and their fellow peers. I always appreciated teachers who treated me well and respected me. I wasn't a behavior issue in my classes but I partially think that I felt the need to respect my teachers because who they were, as well as the connection that they made with me.

This is my motto not only during my teaching life, but I have always tried to follow this in every interaction. Now I can't claim that I am the best person ever and always follow this but I do try to keep my reactions in check. I think that the feeling that you get when you think of someone is more so what comes to mind first (especially with me) than what they may have said or taught me. Feelings are important, that is why we have them and I think therefore we need to be aware that they can get hurt and that will affect the people we interact with, more than anything else.

I would love to have teachers all read this and really take it into account with how they interact with students.