“Be the change you wish to the see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi 

Good afternoon, happy people! I thought about this quote as I walked into the hallway this morning to greet students as they walked in after a weekend that was the first in a long time with warm temperatures and sunshine. I walked into school grumpy and tired. My wife’s been away for the last three days, so it’s been up to me to monitor my youngest, which was pretty easy as all she did was “clean her room and study for her math test”. I stayed up late getting seeds started and watching The West Wing, a guilty pleasure of mine.

But as I walked in, I did not have a great attitude at all, but as soon as students came down the hallway, I felt better. Their energy boosted mine, their greetings made me smile, and I realized that my attitude was not the change I was looking for, so I changed that attitude.

Now, how to we impress this on our students? Our Kid Blog topic today was either writing about anything they wanted (within reason) or this question: What are three things you are hopeful for as you travel to the high school? I want them to see that things are not nearly as bad as they make them out to be. I want them to dream big and to be that change they want to see in the world. I’ve written about this class, having them at sixth graders, and they are exhausting. But, there are amazing writers, musicians, speakers, and athletes in this class too. They get so bogged down in all the negative things that go on, created by a small handful of students, they forget they are a talented group. I push the positive manta, because those students who do care, who do see the value of education and of doing the right thing don’t forget.

And they’ve come through with some great writing about being hopeful for new friends, for new teachers, for being able to compete with other students for positions in dance, football, cheerleading, or participate in speech, debate, or robotics. All in all, we continue to push our students to see the positive light in what they do, to be the change they want to see in the world. It is harder for some to see things in a positive light, but we keep trying.

Because we are that change we want to see in the world, and we want to see it in our students too!