Pay It Forward {Day 22/Year 2}

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you have been a student in a classroom at least once in your life before.

Then, I'm going to assume that at some point you have had a really sucky teacher or two or three.

Am I right?

But, I'm also willing to bet that at some point in your tenure as a student you had one or two or three supremely amazing teachers.

I know I did.

Now, enter Katie Sluiter of Sluiter Nation. You might remember her from when she posted her 9/11 story here a few months ago. Not only is she an incredibly talented and awesome blogger, she's also a teacher that goes above and beyond to give her students amazing quality experiences. She is one of those amazing teachers. So when you go out shopping this holiday season be it on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday or any day between now and the end of the year why don't you pick up a little something off her list here or here (scroll to the Ss).

She's not asking for a million bucks. She's asking for simple things like boxes of crayons/markers or scissors and glue sticks.

Katie's making a difference everyday in the lives of young people.

Take a moment and pay it forward to her and her students this holiday season.

I know I will be.

The Power of Believing

It is so easy to be swayed by the thoughts and opinions of others. Sometimes more easy than we'd like to admit. As a mom I have found myself doubting my ability to do something simply because I perceive others around me to doubt my ability. Likewise I have found myself more successful than I imagined in other situations because I was surrounded by others who didn't expect anything less.

Last weekend as Liam and I attended the State Fair it was the first time that I saw this "power of believing" happen with Liam. As we went from event to event at the fair and tried our hand at a variety of different things we got to experience two sides of the teaching coin.

The first was in the kids craft area where a local college student sat down to assist Liam with a craft. She was no-nonsense in her approach and had complete belief that if Liam did what she asked he could accomplish the craft with little assistance from her and NO assistance from me. And, by golly he did it. He didn't whine or complain or try to explain his way out--he did what she said and did it well. I left flabbergasted at the POWER of this young girl to teach my son. I almost flung myself at her asking if she did any nannying work. It was incredible.

Then, a few hours later we were looking for the slime lab in another building when we encountered a man/teacher who believed that Liam was incapable of mixing two substances together with a popsicle stick. Every. Single. Thing. this guy said was laden with discouragement, contempt and discipline...so Liam just stopped trying.

It really hit home what a powerful role teachers and parents have in encouraging children to BELIEVE that they CAN.

Have you ever had a really great/awful teacher?

How did it effect you?