When it comes to the concept of Do No Harm, I believe that although it may seem difficult for some to ask yourself those internal questions of Will this do harm to myself? Will this do harm to others? or Will this do harm to the environment?, it is also a habit that can be learned and is a truly important one to teach our students as well as practice ourselves. I feel sad to say that to many adults expect students to follow this pillar yet do not always practice it themselves. I honestly believe that if your follow this in your life, it is reflected in your work environment and the students can feel your sincerity and commitment to the matter. They will then pick up on what you do and in the end, you are modeling to them as you would any other lesson. As silly as it may seem, we as educators should too lead by example. I am very fortunate to be lead by several educators who demonstrate this for all of our teachers to see. I feel that it is not just their responsibility as leaders of the school though. I feel that it is each teacher’s responsibility to model for each other each and everyday. I think that with this being said, it is also important to have an open door policy for all educators to observe your practices. I personally love teachers, principals, and leaders from all over coming into our school because I feel that they can see this in all of our staff. It gives me hope that they will then go back to their work site and model for their campus. I have friends who could benefit from their school thinking about these questions, as her fellow teachers are continuously doing harm to fellow teachers and she feels that the students pick up on it. I think that she is 100% right.
My commitments for this semester are:
1) I will start a GSA, as I intended to first semester and was not prepared for it yet.
2) I will provide opportunity for more proactive circles in my classroom (once a week check ins). This could even be as simple as a sharing of the book that they are reading, or what they learned this week.
3) I will write more grit letters. And to hold myself accountable, I will dedicate one night a week to writing 5 letters of acknowledgement to my students and/or colleagues (they also deserve and need praise).
4) I will focus on habits 1-3 on a daily basis by having a reminder up in my classroom. This will bring down my stress, which will have a positive impact on my communication with students. If they see me unorganized or stressed, they could feel it too!
5) I will put posters up in our middle school hallway connecting to our Do No Harm policy! Visuals are very important. I was reminded this by many students in a panel at a recent professional development conference that I attended. They mentioned that visuals in the hallways and in the classrooms are more important than teachers realize.
My commitments for this semester are:
1) I will start a GSA, as I intended to first semester and was not prepared for it yet.
2) I will provide opportunity for more proactive circles in my classroom (once a week check ins). This could even be as simple as a sharing of the book that they are reading, or what they learned this week.
3) I will write more grit letters. And to hold myself accountable, I will dedicate one night a week to writing 5 letters of acknowledgement to my students and/or colleagues (they also deserve and need praise).
4) I will focus on habits 1-3 on a daily basis by having a reminder up in my classroom. This will bring down my stress, which will have a positive impact on my communication with students. If they see me unorganized or stressed, they could feel it too!
5) I will put posters up in our middle school hallway connecting to our Do No Harm policy! Visuals are very important. I was reminded this by many students in a panel at a recent professional development conference that I attended. They mentioned that visuals in the hallways and in the classrooms are more important than teachers realize.