Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Tomorrow Will Be Here Soon

Today was not a fabulous day. There are a host of reasons for that - none of them major. It got me thinking about something Eric Jensen said at ASCD. Saturday morning there was a Coffee and Conversations with ASCD Authors session. I spent a bit of time at Jensen's table as I have been interested in his work on brain-based learning for some time and his newest book is about students living in poverty.

He was interesting to hear as he responded to folks' questions. The thing that stuck with me, or at least that came back to me today, was a bit off his typical topic. He said, "You're only as happy as your most miserable child." He was speaking about parents and I'm feeling it that way today.

I do have to wonder how much it applies to us as teachers. Many teachers, I believe, focus on the difficulties, the things that didn't work, in any given day and struggle to see all the achievements and successes. We do so because we want to improve and make things even better the next lesson, the next day, or the next year. Are we only as successful (in our minds) as our least successful student? And if so, is that a good thing or something we should reevaluate?

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