This beautiful quote from Chaim Ginott in 1972 still seems to be new news today:
I have come to a frightening conclusion.
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis
will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized
The hard and beautiful thing about this understanding is knowing that you can make and must be the change you seek.
Take responsibility and become an instrument of inspiration.