Think of a teacher who significantly impacted your life and/or changed your path for the better/worse.

What about this memory has resonated with you for so long?

Everyone has had experiences with teachers that they will remember until the earth corrodes; these memorable experiences may have affected us in both positive and negative ways of which we’ll never forget. I’m saddened by the fact that some teachers do not use their roles in society to better the lives of its young people, but I’m also SO incredibly thankful for the teachers who are conscious of their students’ needs and the obstacles they face every day.

Most of the memorable moments I can remember with teachers involved some kind of compassion they showed to my classmates or myself. I read an article that claimed compassion to be the best rule of thumb for classroom management. Although this may seem like some fairytale ideal, my memory of being a student rings true to this principle. All memories I have with teachers involve either compassion or a lack there of. Elizabeth Peyton’s article has a bold title: “The Secret to Classroom Management in a Title I School.” The “Title I” part is also very significant to this concept because kids who don’t have enough to eat at home need a certain level of compassion every day, without fail. The basic fabric of this idea lies within this quote from the article:

Treat a kid like a decent person and, more often than not, they’ll act like one.

The Secret to Classroom Management—No Matter Where You Teach