I am writing this during my lunch period, because I need to reach towards the outside world of sanity, because I am overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the clerical work still to be done, and because at this hour of the morning normal ladies are still sleeping.
BEL KAUFMANLearning is a process of mutual discovery for teacher and pupil. Keep an open mind to their unexpected responses.
More Bel Kaufman Quotes
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A teacher is frequently the only adult in the pupil’s environment who treats him with respect.
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I’ll never retire as long as I live—that’s like retiring from life! I’ll never stop writing, teaching, lecturing. If you’re in good health, living is exciting on its own.
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Teachers try to make us feel lower than themselves, maybe because this is because they feel lower than outside people. One teacher told me to get out of the room and never come back, which I did.
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I like the word OLD. Not senior, that’s for proms. Older? Older than whom? ‘Old’ is honorable and ripe
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People ate bread made of the shells of peas because there was no flour.
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… good teachers, like Tolstoy’s happy families, are alike everywhere.
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“Language Arts Dept.” is the English office; “literature based on child’s reading level and experiential background” means that’s all they’ve got in the Book Room; “non-academic-minded” is a delinquent; and “It has come to my attention” means you’re in trouble.
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One of my students had written wistfully of a dream-school that would have “windows with trees in them.
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Learning is a process of mutual discovery for teacher and pupil. Keep an open mind to their unexpected responses.
BEL KAUFMAN -
Time collapses and expands like an erratic accordion.
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And that’s it; that’s why I want to teach; that’s the one and only compensation: to make a permanent difference in the life of a child.
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To the young, cliches seem freshly minted.
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Education can’t make us all leaders, but it can teach us which leader to follow.
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Laughter keeps you healthy. You can survive by seeing the humor in everything. Thumb your nose at sadness; turn the tables on tragedy.
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When giving comes directly from the heart, it can never disappoint or embarrass.
BEL KAUFMAN