1. Be Present.

When you are with your students, stay "in the moment." As educators, we tend to think ahead, plan the next experience, think about what just happened, or worry about what could happen. We seem to live our entire lives thinking about "what's next" or "what happened?" When you enter the classroom, leave the past behind, let the future wait, and endeavor to truly see and hear your students. Be present.

2. Choose Well

Descartes said, "It is only in our decisions that we are important." This is especially true for educators. We make hundreds of decisions each day that directly affect our students and ourselves. Our daily decisions include the way we arrange the classroom environment, the activities we plan, the way we respond to what students' say and do, the way we deal with classroom management issues, what we write on the board, how we group students, the type of questions we ask, and on and on. The idea here is that everything you do is a choice. Even coming to school to work each day is a choice! Your choices. Choose well.

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