Mom's Story

So, my mother is visiting this last weekend and we're talking and she relates the following story to me after dinner.

"I was 5 ft 8 inches in 6th grade and weighed 145 pounds. One day in PE class, Mr. ____, who was a short man, did weight and height checks. After the class got all done, he announces to everyone that I'm the heaviest person in the class, even heavier than him (the teacher). Funny, I've never forgotten that and how I felt."

I sat stunned, yet not surprised.

My mother is seventy years old and yet she still remembers this memory, some sixty years ago. It brings home the thought of the importance of our words and how they can have lasting impressions. I've been partial to Haim Ginott, the famous teacher and child psychologist who said that "children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them leaves a lasting impression."

Case in point. My mother.

I'm reading a book by educational guru, teacher, scholar...Todd Whitaker, who wrote a myriad of books, the one I'm reading being, What Great Teachers Do Differently. As I read these pages, I reflect back upon myself and what I did as a middle school teacher and some of which I did well. Other parts I didn't. I'm very curious as to what more I'm going to learn over the summer.