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BE THE CHANGE

"Be the change you wish to see in the world," is not exactly a Gandhi quote, although it is attributed to him.  Whether it is or it is not, I am here to suggest that we in education change it ...

Be the change you wish to see in EDUCATION.
or
Be the change you wish to see in your CLASSROOM.

I am a classroom teacher.  Most of the time I feel quite incapable of changing anything within my district, or my school, much less the state or the country.  But I can BE the change I desire,  It can start with me.

For example, if I truly believe that students learn in relationships, then I will work hard to form educational relationships with my students.  Sometimes it may seem that there is too much curriculum, or too many worksheets, or too many absences to be able to ¨relate" to my students, too much other "stuff" to spend time on to get my students on my side.  And even though it seems that way, I can CHOOSE to build those relationships anyway!

In my classes, I build relationships through games.  Not long, drawn out board games, just something to make my students laugh.  We play look up, look down, or count to 10, or concentration.  As a review we play bingo, and my students only get credit if they use the vocabulary words correctly.  They help each other, they laugh, and they learn.

What change do you want to see in your classroom.  Begin it, there is power in the beginning!

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