Do your students feel welcomed in your classroom?
Have you ever worked a job where you were just miserable? I have, I didn't like my supervisor, she was not fond of me either. I was isolated, didn't communicate with my peers, and as a result, I had little to no motivation to do my very best at work.
If you've ever experienced this and you know how it feels, why would you make your students feel the same?
Some teachers put so much energy into being negative with children that they do not realize the lasting affect this has on a child's psyche. Remember, they are children. Some may be bigger than you, taller than you, weigh more than you, but they are still a child... even at 17. Most of all, they are someone's baby.
All children want to be heard and acknowledged. If they aren't getting this while at school, all you are doing is encouraging children to go to a place where they do feel validated. If you teach in a high needs area where many of your students have free and reduced lunch, a place where students will feel validated is the streets.
Think about the way you address children. Do you encourage and appreciate their presence or do you make them feel like they are a burden?
Let me put it to you this way, the child you discourage from succeeding academically today could be the adult climbing through your window tomorrow.
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