Approach to at-risk student

• Regardless of adversity, it is their responsibility to ignite the desire to learn in their students.

Persistence

• Acceptance of responsibility to make classroom interesting and engaging for all children to learn in a variety of formats based on their individual needs.
• Constant searching for best practices for every student.
• Engagement in reflective practice to find better ways of doing things in the classroom.

Protection of students’ learning

• Bring their outside interests and activities in the classroom to involve students in learning.
• Find ways to expand the traditional curriculum and sometimes are seen as being noncompliant with the academic agenda (redefine the boundaries within their work). 
• Courteous, patient, and professional when redefining boundaries and negotiating with authority figures.
• View protecting and increasing students’ involvement in academic activities as their highest priority.

Fallibility

• Admit and accept their own mistakes, which enables them to accept the mistakes of their students without attacking them.

Professional versus personal orientation

• Do not take children’s misbehavior as a personal attack.
• Students will be able to learn regardless of how they feel about the student and vice versa.
• Sense of authentic respect.

Burn out: The care and feeding of bureaucracy

• Protect self from burnout by not subjecting self to constant stress from interfering bureaucracy.
• Seek others who are positive minded, team teach, and realize they are not alone… have a support system.

Putting theory into practice

• Engage in reflective practice.
• Cite clear, observable examples that all children can learn.
• Translate theory into practice.