(there can be miracles) When You Believe

Dear Teacher,

I am so sorry.  I was not able to post my normal Monday morning post.  Even though the weekly theme song is a day late, the week is still young.  I chose this song because it is a powerful one sung by to powerful voices.  I need this boost of inspiration this week, I don’t know about you.  Click play (and skip the ad if one comes up) and then read on.

For those of us on summer break, it is slowly coming to a close.  The days are soon approaching when you will be meeting your students at the door of your classroom.  You will, once again, be that face of education for them.  You will be the one that sets the tone for your class and the day for many of your students.  What you say, do, think, and feel about them will help decide what they say, do, think, and feel about themselves.

Our job is hard,  We have to plan curriculum, timing, assessments and the like.  We have to implement and delver those plans we made.  We have to manage the classroom.  We have to help students on their good days and their bad days.  We have to help students on our good and bad days.  We have to deal with difficult students and find ways to bring them back into the learning environment.  We have to keep students engaged.  We have to find a way to help them learn.  We have to ensure they are ready for success on state tests.  We have to follow guidelines and expectations from the state, district, and administration.  We have a lot of balls to juggle at once.  It is hard to keep them all in the air most days.

And along with all of this, and probably above all of this, we are the key to our students’ attitude and belief about learning and education.  The way we talk, carry ourselves, and visibly feel (feeling show) affect how they act and feel.  Your attitude sets their attitude.  Your tone sets their tone.  Your expectations for them become the expectations that they have for themselves.

The best word that I can think of to sum this up is belief.  I am not talking about spiritual belief (though important to most people), I am talking about belief in yourself and others.  Beliefs are powerful.  They affect you and those around you.  What you believe sets the atmosphere of your classroom and the students sitting in it.  Your belief in them and what you are teaching them becomes what they believe.  If your belief about achievement is low, it will be low for your students.  If it is high, it will be high for your students.

The amazing thing about beliefs is that you don’t have to talk someone into them.  You don’t need “buy-in.”  If you are bought in, your students will eventually be bought in.  When someone truly believes in you, eventually you start to believe them and then believe in yourself.  This is doubly true for your students.  You set the environment of belief and they tune into it.  Like it or not, this is the reality.

So…what are your beliefs for the coming year (or the year you are in if you are currently teaching)?  What does your belief about your students, classroom, and school say to the students.  Are your goals set unbelievably high?  If they aren’t, they should be.  Set them high and believe, truly believe, that your students can reach them.  Make them attainable goals, but make them lofty.  Once your goals are in place, communicate them constantly to your students.  Then believe.  Believe.  Believe.  Your students WILL buy in and start to believe themselves.

The song is so right.  There can be miracles when you believe.  Belief helps you to do things that you never thought you could do before.  It makes you rise to heights you did not know you could reach.  It makes you more than you could be.

A few posts back, I shared a bunch of clips.  Two of them were from Taylor Mali.  The last one is called “Miracle Workers.”  In it he talks about teachers as miracle workers.  He says this near the end of the talk/poem, “Education is the miracle.  I am just the work.  I am a teacher, and that’s what we do.”

Be a miracle worker.  Set high goals for the year and believe, believe, BELIEVE!

You are awesome!  I know this week will be great for you.  I know this coming school year (or current one) will be great.  Be awesome because you are awesome.  If you need someone to believe in you, know that I do.  I believe in you.  Be amazing!  Keep on dreaming and teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher