Grace
One of my favorite quotes, and one by which I try to live my life is:
“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve.
You don’t have to have a college degree to serve.
You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I tried to live by this wisdom in the classroom and teach it to my students as well.
To me, grace is the sweet nectar that can bring bliss to our lives. It is what makes us whole.
Another quote about grace that has had an impact on me too is from Anne Lamott.
“I do not understand the mystery of grace –
only that it meets us where we are, but does not leave us where it found us.”
I believe that grace is one of the greatest needs we have in the classroom today in order to achieve real growth and learning gains as human beings.
We don’t need more technology, testing, checklists, standards, evaluations or money.
We desperately need more grace in the classroom…especially now as we move forward after a very difficult school year trying to make our way teaching and learning in a pandemic.
“Grace” comes from the Latin word “gratia” meaning “favor, mercy, good will, gratitude”.
In Spanish, the expression for “please” is “por favor” or “by favor”. It implies the potential “pleasing” or “favorite” nature of the act.
In French, the expression for “thank you” is “merci”. In Italian, it is “grazie”; in Spanish, “gracias”.
Grace is an interaction, a communication, an intention from the heart.
Grace is the love and mercy we have received from others and that we, in turn, give back to the world.
Grace is a choice that we make in every single moment of our lives.
Grace is a conscious choice we make to bring more mercy, goodwill and gratitude into the world through our thoughts and actions.
So, what does grace look like in the classroom, and why is is so critical? (more…)