Learning becomes relevant when we connect it to reality...

"Affluent parents are getting the schools they want. The question is whether they’ll support the schools that help other peoples’ children." Robert John Meehan

"Emulate those teachers that instilled the sense of wonder and curiosity that inspired you."Robert John Meehan 

 "Great teachers are motivated predominately by the desire to enrich and empower the pupil, all other aspirations and motivations are held in check by that one dominant desire." Robert John Meehan

"Many ed reformers have foolishly accepted at face value that teachers in lower income schools are less effective. They couldn't be more wrong." Robert John Meehan

"Competition in education, by design, is intended to "leave children behind." Competition, by design, creates winners and losers." Robert John Meehan

"A teacher has to be ON every moment of the day, despite his/her’s actual state of mind." Robert John Meehan

"Our vision of teaching often becomes blurred by the restraints of standardized tests, administrative burdens, parental complaints and lack of support." Robert John Meehan

"As a teacher I spent a lot of time studying the "art of selling" to get a better perspective of what I was trying to accomplish as a teacher. After all, aren't we in the business of getting students to "buy into" what we are doing?" Robert John Meehan

"True teachers illuminate the path to achievement, believing the best way to predict a child's future is to help create it." Robert John Meehan

"Our achievements as teachers are shaped by the climate of our classrooms and the strength of our preparation." Robert John Meehan

"Teaching is a journey... but one where it's good news when you lose your baggage." Robert John Meehan

A gifted teacher is also prepared to foresee the child's hopes...

 "Imagine if people were as passionate about education as they are about pop culture." Robert John Meehan

 "Better teaching does not come from a political mandate...it comes from the heart of a prepared and caring teacher." Robert John Meehan

 "If we are not proactive in providing it, the children needing the most attention will be asking for it in the most unsettling of ways." Robert John Meehan

 "Somewhere in some classroom a student awaits a teacher's nod, smile or personal attention. Exemplary teachers don't wait for students to ask for it." Robert John Meehan

  "I seldom needed to encourage my students to follow their dreams, I simply gave my students the tools and as much freedom as they needed to chase after them." Robert John Meehan

  "Exemplary teachers are not gifted; they are just more prepared and more willing to do what it takes. They conscientiously succeed on purpose."  Robert John Meehan

"Great classrooms are characterized by positive, open relationships, mutual respect, and a shared responsibility for the learning process." Robert John Meehan

"Teamwork is the fuel that allows common teachers to obtain uncommon results." Robert John Meehan

"If we balance the budget on the back of the educational system, we will be paying for it for years to come." Robert John Meehan

 "As teachers we must adjust to the ever changing politically driven educational mandates but still hold to the unchanging principles that every child can and will succeed."- Robert John Meehan

Too many students don't know what success feels like...

"Our teaching should always be artfully crafted. It should impart something that is in itself sacred to the senses of our students." Robert John Meehan

"Teach with a renewed appreciation of its consequences and you will never cease to realize the infinite possibilities within your reach." Robert John Meehan

"Although most would see them only as an ocean of small faces, we as teachers see them as the waves that propel us." Robert John Meehan

"Don't struggle to be a better teacher than everybody else. Simply be a better teacher than you ever thought you could be." Robert John Meehan

"If we are truly effective teachers, then we are creating autonomous, independent, and self directed learners." Robert John Meehan

 "Education reform does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change. As teachers, positive change has always been our goal." Robert John Meehan

 "The essential nature of any Teacher is within our own hearts. Although an education prepares us to teach, it is the love of learning that sustains us." Robert John Meehan 

 "The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other. Without collaboration our growth is limited to our own perspectives." Robert John Meehan

 "As a teacher you have to be committed to learning for a lifetime first before you can lead your students down that path." Robert John Meehan



                    
  Click to visit the Positive Mantras for Teachers gofundme page.

It does not take wealth or the brains of a rocket scientist to engage our own children in the essential early literacy skills...

It does not take wealth or the brains of a rocket scientist to engage children in the essential early literacy skills. It may not be as much "fun" as clubbing, chill'n, or watching Jerry Springer, but at least parents should be making an effort to put their own children in the position for a better future in school. A box of crayons, paper and a library card are all the materials needed.

Poverty is no excuse!  Wealth is not necessary to make the right choices to get children prepared for school. The best schools and the best teachers are already hard pressed trying to get other people's children caught up. Don't count on your child to be the  main focus of an already over burdened public school system..

The American Library Association has identified these six key skills that will prepare children to become readers when they enter school:

The Early Literacy Skills are:

• Print Motivation. Being excited about and interested in books.
• Phonological Awareness. Playing with the sounds in words.
• Narrative Skills. Telling stories and describing things.
• Enriched Vocabulary. Knowing the specific names of things.
• Print Awareness. Noticing print everywhere, knowing how to handle a book, and following words on a page.
• Letter Knowledge. Knowing the difference between how letters look, their names, and their sounds.