CowPi Journal

A Frightening Conclusion…

24 August 2004, 6 am | Quote

Every year that I have taught, going on 14 years now, I have had a copy of this quote taped to the inside of my gradebook as a reminder:

I have come to a frightening conclusion.
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 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,
    and a child humanized or de-humanized.

— Dr. Haim G. Ginott

This not only applies to students, but to all people we encounter.