I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, a child humanized or de-humanized.

Treat a child as though he already is the person he's capable of becoming.

Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task.

Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.

But Hitler didn't strive for the annihilation of the Jews - he stressed that fact in public life and in the newspapers. Hitler merely said at the beginning tha…

[Alan Cranston] understood power not as a reflection of status but as a tool with a purpose.' - Sen. Joseph Biden December 31, 2000 on Meet the Press

WITH GREAT POWER THERE MUST ALSO COME - - GREAT RESPONSIBILITY!