I was going to show my kids that no matter what happened with their parents, parole officers and other teachers, I wouldn't give up on them. I let them know it matters to me that you come to class, it matters to me that you try, it matters to me when you succeed.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of dedication and support for students, regardless of their circumstances.
Erin Gruwell's quote reflects the unwavering commitment of an educator to inspire and support students, demonstrating that their efforts and successes hold significant value. It highlights the role of a teacher in providing a stable and encouraging environment where students feel their presence and achievement matter, despite any external challenges they may face.
In practice
In a speech at a school assembly, a teacher could share this quote to motivate students facing difficulties.
I have learned that, although I am a good teacher, I am a much better student, and I was blessed to learn valuable lessons from my students on a daily basis. They taught me the importance of teaching to a student - and not to a test.
And suddenly, I realized the system that I was in did not know what intelligence was, didn't know how to identify smart and not smart. They called me the best, when I knew I wasn't, and they called him the worst, when he was the best. I mean, there could be no more antipodal environment. So I began to question: What is intelligence? Who says? Who says you're smart? Who says you're not smart? And what do they mean by that?
Knowledge without follow-through is worse than no knowledge.
Of all the intellectual faculties, judgment is the last to mature. A child under the age of fifteen should confine its attention either to subjects like mathematics, in which errors of judgment are impossible, or to subjects in which they are not very dangerous, like languages, natural science, history, etc.
The PhD system is the real root of the evil of academic snobbery. People who have PhDs consider themselves a priesthood, and inventors generally don't have PhDs.
We light the oven so that everyone may bake bread in it.
If the education of our kids comes from radio, television, newspapers - if that's where they get most of their knowledge from, and not from the schools, then the powers that be are definitely in charge, because they own all those outlets.
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