Wk3 - Response to Heather

What a great post, Heather!

Rule 6 is great, and I have to admit that I am not always good at this one. Going through this program with you over the last 11 months, I have definitely noticed that you are very good at Rule 6 thinking. I can't imagine what it must have been like for you growing up in the situation that you did, but I also, with Christine and Dena, commend you for coming through it a stronger, better person. I would love to be a fly on the wall in one of your classes! I think I would learn a lot about teaching from seeing you in action.

Rule 6! - Microsoft Clip Art Gallery

Heather's Original Post:

As a teacher we are always “leading from a chair”.  I can’t make my students learn, I can’t make them succeed.  My goal is to guide them, engage them, and help them create that inner desire to succeed on their own.  I understand the idea of asking what is wrong with me if they are not succeeding, but I also think that this can take away some of the personal responsibility of the students.  Students need to also participate for the relationship to work.

I love, love, LOVE Remember Rule #6.  I totally live by this!  I vow to never take myself too seriously and try to lighten up the mood with humor whenever possible.  I have found that this helps to ease tense situations…also defusing a situation with humor often times allows both parties to leave with their dignity (save face).  I am also not opposed to their Have the best ______ ever scenario ::wink, wink::

I also found the inner battle between the calculating self and central self very intriguing.  After reading this, it was easy to ascertain which self tries to be dominant in certain situations.  While I usually stay in the central self, there are time where I find my calculating self trying to rear it’s ugly head.

The way things are is such a difficult concept sometimes.  There are times when you just want to vent, cry, scream and not accept the injustice of certain things.  However, in the end, there usually isn’t much you can do to change the situation, only your reaction to that situation.  I try to highlight this with students when we talk about childhoods and the situations in which we were raised.  I was raised in a difficult situation, where I was always in that survival mode with a drug-addicted parent until I entered the 6^th grade.  I told my students that I could have held onto this difficult background and let it guide my adult life.  Instead I chose to realize that this was the situation and that I could rise above it…I didn’t let my inability to change my past alter my future.