How I Turned My Failures Into Success

Mere minutes ago I was happily asleep in comfortable small clean shared quarters -- the slightest pungent smell of lemon polish pervades a chest of drawers. But communicating with people you've never met who have become suddenly your roommate is a strange experience for me.

If you have to 'punish' students, then don't keep them in so that you have to supervise them. Give them useful work to do in their time so that you can have your breaks as a time to rest and relax. This punishment might be to report to the teacher on playground duty to pick up litter. Alternatively, they might report to you when you are on playground duty. You could remove privileges, have them on a behaviour card or on a behaviour contract.

growkit golden teacher I just wanted to dance under the sunlight for a little while. Do a little of the Tai Chi I had learned. I could almost hear the song of Whales and light flute music here in the center of Los Angeles, California. The usual whiff of noxious fumes was strangely not noticed. I sat on the green lawn drinking my soda doing a Yoga asana (stretching) and judging myself tremendously aloud to a woman next to me.

golden teacher It was bumpy at first, but eventually something remarkable happened to this class of rough talking, tougher acting adolescents. Increasingly, outbursts like, "@!#$%, don't look at me," were being met with a growing chorus of, "there are no @#$%s in this class!" Conflicts decreased; while smiles and learning flourished. The kids even learned to tolerate my lectures. Surely my grandmother was on to something.

Everyone knows by the time they're in 3rd grade that it's teacher's pet who has the honor of cleaning the erasers, wiping down the blackboard, and replacing stubs with fresh, long white pieces of chock that felt amazingly smooth as your fingers slid lightly over their cool hardness as you placed them neatly in the chock tray. Mrs. Conroy smiled at me as she arranged the pages of each student's best cursive writing on the bulletin boards flanking both sides of the clean blackboard. We had everything in place for tomorrow. It would be a great day. And I was, indeed, a good girl who had learned the hard way to wiggle her toes a few months ago with the encouragement of the physical therapy heroes.

golden teacher I will give you an example. The Northridge earthquake in 1994 destroyed my home. I was forced to move into an apartment that didn't allow dogs. I had a beautiful blonde golden retriever I was forced to give away.

growkit golden teacher Many teachers fail do a good job in the classroom because they do not have the ability to maintain a good classroom environment. A teacher must establish and maintain a positive classroom environment from day one. How does a teacher achieve this? From day one, students must learn and understand what the rules are in class. The teacher must reinforce such rules consistently. During the first week of school, the teacher must go over the classroom and school rules every day, making sure students fully understand what is expected of them. Managing classroom behavior starts from day one and has to continue everyday, all day long.

I have learned the hard way that Depression and Despair are demanding, difficult but wonderful teachers; ergo the reason for capitalizing them. Depression is one way that our soul is endeavoring to reach out and help us. We become depressed when our life is out of balance and we are not 'doing' what we are supposed to be doing. We have gotten off track and lost our way.

growkit golden teacher Feather your own nest. I have the most wonderful bed linens, I feel like a princess every night when I go to bed. I have 2 feather mattresses and a silk, down comforter. I bought them at a discount store we have called, Tuesday Morning. Scour the town for one of your own. You will sink into luxury and know you are special, each and every night.

Amazing to me people manage to get up this early (7:00 a.m. or earlier) to participate in movement. People in this free flowing movement class are probably 17 -- 70+ years old. Everyone is silent before we begin. With awareness we crawl slowly around the room and begin, at the level of micro-movements, to slowly stand up. I usually stand with knees slightly bent.

golden teacher I walked into the event a lot late. In the 1960's it would be called "a happening." The name of the event was "Children, Our Ultimate Investment." It was a celebration of Aldous Huxley's birth. Ram Dass was on stage with (Alan Watt's cohort) Al Huang (of the Living Tao foundation). As Dass did his thing about Shiva and existence and bliss Al Huang danced spontaneously and these professional big kids were having a really good time as they carried Laura Huxley around the packed room and danced with her in their arms.

Dan Hertz a peace activist during the late 60's said "we are there already." One should explore and experience with more than just intellect. "The means determines the end." We must change and to do so we must develop human character. End suffering. Attention to here and now then come down from the mountain and provide water to the thirsty souls. No cult grew around Aldous Huxley. (Who incidentally died the same moment as John F. Kennedy). Huxley did not become a Guru. (Actually a Guru is a teacher and Huxley was that!).