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Are You An "F" Giver or a CSM LWTO ? But then it crept in ... that nagging feeling I had, that "I" was failing as a teacher if I was giving big red "F's!" I didn't like that sickening, nagging feeling over the first weeks of school and one day, it bothered me so much that I confronted it and decided to deal with it head on. This first teaching job was in a rural school, and I was teaching close to 30 children in grades 3, 4, 5 & 6 - all in one classroom. I was finding it impossible to work with every student, and those that I didn't get to were failing miserably. I taught all subjects, including P.E. and Music, and I went outside with them for every recess. I wrote out 4 complete lesson plans every week. I was correcting papers and workbooks until midnight every night, because I couldn't keep up. Up again at 6 a.m. to do it all again. I was hired for this job because of the excellent discipline I instilled during my semester as a student teacher. I was told that this group of children were exceptionally hard to manage and had run their previous teacher ragged. So, on top of keeping the lid on the discipline, I could see what an impossible situation this was going to be if I didn't come up with a creative idea. I knew that for each student that was failing, I was failing too! I'll never forget the moment that I asked myself, "What did a 1-room rural school teacher do in the olden days with so many different grade levels and so many children?" The answer came rather quickly: Teach the lesson per grade level then team them up to work on the assignments together. Change the teams around daily. Have them correct each others' workbooks. Instill trust. Put children together in small groups to read and read ...and then read again. Change the groupings daily. When a child has an "F," call them up to your desk and find out what they did not understand and then take the time it takes to teach them! The next day my life as an educator opened up. I no longer put "F"s on their papers. Instead I wrote on the top of their papers: CSM LWTO - (Come See Me, Let's Work This Out) In the Teddy Stallard Story, Miss Thompson's first act of compassion came when she decided to understand. She looked into the school records and found out this child's story. From that moment on she became a CSM LWTO person. People become successful leaders in their industries when they decide to find out what was not understood and then make the time it takes to teach ...rather than just giving "F's." Compassion IS the first act of understanding, which is the first step toward making any situation better. After I left education and starting running my own business and raising my children, I found that the same principles - CSM LWTO - work in every conceivable situation life offers me.
What a world of difference one CSM LWTO person... can make! PS ... to watch the Teddy Stallard Story Movie again go to: www.MakeADifferenceMovie.com |
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Compassion Quotes: 
