"I am the element"

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Carolyn Stanford-Taylor shared a message at the State Every Teacher a Leader Summit. The message? Teacher leadership and voice is alive in Wisconsin, and strongly supported and encouraged by DPI. 
The second component of the message-- as educators we are a decisive element, a determiner of our students' success, engagement, behavior.  As a leader I am the element. She went on to share this quote from Haim Ginott: 
​“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
I possess tremendous power to make 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 is escalated or de-escalated,
     and a person is humanized or de-humanized.
If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them        become what they are capable of becoming.” 
                                                  ― Haim G. Ginott, Teacher and Child: A Book for Parents and Teachers

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