Learning and Changing : The 4 quotations that guide me every school year

I love a good quotation. What I mean by a good quotation is one that takes something you’ve been thinking about abstractly and would take you lots of words to express, and then says it in a very concise (often, pithy) way. These are the 4 quotations that help me building my path as a teacher.

1. “It’s hard not to act like a caveman when you’re living in a cave.” (paraphrased from John O’Farrell’s An Utterly Impartial History of Britain)

At school, as well as in the other work places, there’s staff who don’t have broadband at home ( because they don’t use the Net that much ), have had the same mobile phone for several years and who only use an interactive whiteboard if and when they are observed….While most of our students have the best laptops models, the most advanced 3G mobile phone and control easily those interactive whiteboards “monsters”. I think we ( or most of the teachers ) must come out of the cave without fear… There is no monster out there anymore…

2. “If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” (Chinese proverb)
I can see so much that needs to be done! So, as long as I know where I’d like the school to be in 3 years’ time, I can start thinking about the baby steps to get us there. The problem is: will we ever get there?!!

3. "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." ( Marcus Aurelius)
As a teacher I must accept the fact that I am not supposed to be the most popular person in the world. It’s a bit like when you become a teacher and initially you want all the students to like you. Then you realize that you’re not there to be liked. You’re there to help students to learn things. Every year I ‘keep it real’ and don’t just try to please everybody. That’s the way I have found out to be OK.

4. “I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself.” ( Michel De Montaigne)

At the end of every school day I always try to remember the reasons why I came into the teaching profession. They are my ‘teacher principles’. However, in this new and changing world of education, there are a lot of stuff that let myself down… But I’ve learnt that it hasn’t to be at the expense of my believes and values.

What about you? What quotations guide and inspire you? What are you aiming for next school year?