As a teacher, you create the climate

Photo: Sunrise

“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom.

It’s my personal approach that creates the climate.

It’s my daily mood that makes the weather.

As a teacher, I possess a 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 heal.

In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.”

—Haim Ginott, Teacher & Child