Teaching our Children

As teachers, do we not treat our students as if they were our own children? This is a question I have today. Sometimes there's a student that may be hard to love... sometimes we forget that there's such diversity in this world and we sometimes just want people to be just like us. Sometimes it is impossible or very hard to understand student actions and odd behaviors. Why is that so? We have to find the good in each and every student and build from that. We must work to crack the codes of our students... to see what makes them tick. It is hard at times to love ...but as I remember Lucy Calkins saying once at a workshop in DC..."you gotta love them and you gotta love 'em quick!" She's referring to the beginning of school and building relationships. We must develop a trusting and loving relationship with our students. We are powerful adults in their impressionable lives. Our students are with us for a huge portion of their life for that single year. The power of teachers is not to be underestimated! Powers that I never really understood until my own children were in school and experienced both positive and negative powerful effects of teachers in their lives. So... I ask myself. Who is that outlier in the classroom? Why is he such a bully, or sad, or sassy? What can I learn about him and from him? How can we build the relationships? You must touch the heart to reach the brain... they are someone's children... and they send them to US. Treat them as you would your own.