What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.
I wanted to take a few minutes today to talk about the power of perception. I really love this quote from C.S. Lewis, because it reminds us as educators that our perception depends on how we look at things and that how we look at things depends largely upon our past experiences. In one of my favorite books, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus and Scout talk about this when Scout is wondering about her friend Walter and poverty: "“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb in his skin and walk around in it.” In the story we see how Scout's perception of the world around her was changed by getting to know people in a different way; through knowing their stories. She came to understand Atticus, Tom Robinson, Bob Ewell, and Boo Radley in ways that she hadn't before. The classic line near the end sums this up: “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.” Her PERCEPTION had changed because she knew understood something new about them that she didn't know before. In some sense, her change in PERCEPTION made these people real because she saw them for who they really were.
That's how it is with our students, our PERCEPTION is really the only reality that exists because reality is personal, and is created in our minds. It's only when we allow ourselves to get to know our students, does our PERCEPTION change and we begin to understand them in ways we never dreamed. That is why I constantly remind people that we are in the RELATIONSHIP business! As educators, we need to always be mindful of how we perceive our students and work at forming relationships, because that is what really matters. Learn to share YOUR story and LISTEN to the stories of your students. When you do, you will be well on your way to changing your PERCEPTION and building relationships that foster learning and success!
Have an awesome week!!!