As I was finishing the book "A Hope In The Unseen", there was a simple thought that Suskind states on page 337 that stood out to me. "...kids whose potential, whose spark, gets so dimmed by all the grime and despair that it's almost impossible to see." Wow, that is just so powerful to me. It is so true and something that we all know but to hear it stated in such a way drives it home. We attempt to teach children each day who come to us beat down and tired. As educational leaders it is our job to empower teachers and students to wipe the grime away so that this true potential can shine. A task that is not so easy but something we strive to do because we love our students and want the best for them even when nobody else does.

Amy,
That statement also brought to my mind those who blow the needy children off when they start to shine. I have seen many children who had a spark of interest of creativity totally obliterated by a thoughtless teacher who focused on the negative (even a small negative) like the student's name being placed on the wrong side of the paper. I think the recent thought on learning styles and multiple intelligence has helped us focus more on areas or student strength.

Jackie I have also seen those teachers. I am sure I have thoughtlessly done it myself. I hope as an administrator I never forget how complicated classrooms are as places and how it is important to be watchful in all that we say and do.

What we say and how we say it has a big effect on students. I saw a student with a shirt that said "watch your action they become habits, watch you habits they become character". I thought this speaks to teachers because as educators it is easy falls into routines and habits and we can harm students by teaching on autopilot.

What a t-shirt...I would love to have that.

I do agree that we often forget how influential we can be in so many lives...so many that we think are not listening or paying attention. Even more importantly than words are our actions, reactions, facial expressions, body language, etc. Kids pick up on these sometimes more so than adults.
So, there are times when we all let our professional guards down, but we have to be attentive and recognize the appropriate times for expression. Even more so, our audience is changing-while students still make up a great majority, as principal, we are venturing more into the audience of teachers and parents. I have already noted changes of thoughts and actions in my day to day work habits-trying to keep my comments and body language from really "sharing my story."
Not only can we influence students, but parents/teachers and colleagues certainly fit into this area.

I believe that is where this discussion was headed. Don't we do that to students. They have to sit in nice neat rows, have two sharpened number two pencils, and place their names first and last (in that order) in the top right-hand corner of their papers. Structure seen here sounds horrible; however, for some of students is not that the very thing that they need. They are starving for some structure; some form of order within their lives.

I agree that we must allow them freedom to explore their gifts without beating them down into the mold of "the perfect student". This is hard because of the societal molds that we are placed in within the working world. I think this goes back to our discussion the other night when Kami looked deeper into the words adaptation and assimilation. Do we want them to adapt under Herbert Spencer's view of survival of the fittest or Darwin's view of Natural Selection? How many times do we hear the words, "If you get it fine, if you don't that is your fault."? Can we leave their education to chance?

It's amazing how creative some teachers can be when coming up with reasons for their students' lack of success before the fact. As administrators we must rip that kind of talk out of the culture of a school. These teachers either need to change or move on. If we continue to let bad teachers teach we only have ourselves to blame.

Neil, you are so correct, but unfortunately, we all know it's not that easy to get rid of teachers, especially those who have been there for 25 + years and are on the downhill side. I think if anything this program has made me take another look at my own classroom and my own actions. The wisdom and awakening that I have been given hopefully we will all be able to carry through in our administrative roles.