I’m grateful for the way my seventh and eighth grade students smile back at me as I greet them at the door of my classroom. Many of them even ask how my day is going. Surprisingly few give me the stereotypical adolescent scowl that one might imagine on the faces of middle school students.
Lately I’ve being trying to be mindful of the fact that my students will generally reciprocate the same attitude that I project upon them. This is not the case for all of my students, but it honestly is the truth for the vast majority. Sometimes it’s easy for me to fixate on the negative behaviors and attitudes of a mere handful of students, when I should be focused on the overwhelming number of students I have who truly want to give their best effort.
Nonlinear Compilations 
Yes! The energy we put out out is what we get back. I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately; especially how the same student can respond so differently to different teachers.
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Mary, it is interesting how different teachers can get different results from the same student. It can be so hard to be full of energy with the multiple demands that we have coming at us from all angles. But the payoff is huge when students return the energy that we put out there and really get invested in what we’re trying to teach them.
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