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Action
by Joy Jones
Q: Do you know any teachers who
could use a little inspiration?
A: EVERY teacher could use a little inspiration.
Here's a little inspiration on the topic of ACTION,
taken from the book, Private Lessons: A Book of
Meditations for Teachers by Joy Jones
"The truth of the matter is that you always know the
right thing to do. The
hard part is doing it." -- General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
The music teacher was the new teacher in the school.
She didn't know that Reggie was one of the
"knuckleheads", but she soon found out. He had a chip on
his shoulder, and he was sullen and unresponsive in her
music appreciation class. She took the time to talk to
Reggie and found out that he was having a lot of
problems at home - a mother struggling to get off of
drugs, a father who lived in another state whom he
missed sorely, a big sister who was serving a jail term,
and his own curiosity about the excitement of the street
life. By talking with Reggie on a regular basis she
helped him to drop - by degrees - his hard edge. Almost
in spite of himself, he began to like music class - so
much so, he decided to take up playing the trumpet. Soon
he was a member of the band. Then as school began to be
more fun as a result of music class, he began to do
better in all his other subjects, too.
One day the English teacher stopped the music teacher
in the hall. "Reggie was an absolute hellion last school
year. He is doing so much better nowadays," the English
teacher said to her colleague. "And it's all because you
took an interest in him."
"That's true", said the music teacher. "But why didn't
you?"
Today's lesson: I take a personal interest in those
around me.
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