It's Not About How You Fall, It's About How You Get Up.....

Who knew that Tom Bergeron from Dancing With the Stars would inspire a blog?  As I sit here with my lap top, checking out the news and reading and learning from Twitter, the TV is on..............

Yes, it was on a couple of blogs ago too...........you don't have to rub it in.  I am a couch potato!

Poor Kirstie and Max just fell on the dance floor.  Host Tom Bergeron said, "It's not about how you fall, it's about how you get up."

If you read my blog, I sometimes admit that leadership gets the best of me.  I know that to be true for my teachers as well.  Whether it be a parent that is not maintaining contact, or a child that comes to school dirty and undernourished.............

In school, we deal with many hardships.  Face it, we teach because we love children.  When you are in front of your class, you are on stage.  You are the motivating, encouraging, loving adult that the children need to see.  Sometimes, though, we "fall" behind closed doors.

What do we all have in common?  WE GET UP!  The children wait for us everyday and we must be there for them. 

So, this blog is for all of the teachers, principals, counselors, and school staff that get up everyday.  When things get rough, you don't stay down.  You know how important it is to get back in the game.  You are the role model that is forefront.

Remember:  it's not how you fall, it's about how you get up!

Who's Teaching Ethics These Days?

Ahhhhh, Sunday morning.  I'm sitting here with my coffee, reading blogs and scanning the news.  In the background the TV is on Primetime:  What Would You Do?  Of course, my visual learning style takes over and I start watching the show.  The show sets up scenarios where someone is treated inhumanly or is in trouble and watches the public as they wander by............more than not, people do wander by instead of stopping. 

And then the light bulb goes off.  Who is talking to children about these things?  Who is talking to them about ethics and morals?

At our school we have character words of the month.  We do Words of Wisdom over the intercom.  We have a Code of Conduct.  But is that enough?

I don't think it is.  These things superficially cover character and helps to shape children's character.  However, these traditions do not allow children to discuss ideas, discuss how to act, and think about ethical situations.  We need to make sure that children can experience ethics and morals.

These days parents are working many hours per week.  Many families do not raise children in the church.  If ethics are not being discussed in the home, is it not our duty to make sure that children learn about ethics at school?

Let's add one more thing to our already busy day.  As we plan authentic experiences for our children, we must incorporate ethics and morals. 

"A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world."

-Albert Camus