John Shindler > Quotes

“Creating the Weather in the Classroom As Haim Ginott suggests, teachers “create the weather” in the classroom:   I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is 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 humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child is humanized or dehumanized [p. x].”
― John Shindler, Transformative Classroom Management: Positive Strategies to Engage All Students and Promote a Psychology of Success

“Recall the teachers who have engendered the highest amount of love and respect from you. Were they the teachers with the largest personalities? Or the teachers who thought they were the coolest? Or was it a teacher who expressed a care or respect for you as a person?”
― John Shindler, Transformative Classroom Management: Positive Strategies to Engage All Students and Promote a Psychology of Success