Death cannot put the brakes on a good dream.

Everyone who comes in is just amazed that our children do not have the animosity, the hatred, because these children are into it. You know, once you learn to like yourself, then you don't see this black-white bit. I still say that a good basic education is the only thing. I feel guilty sometimes because I don't think Jesus Christ could get any more accolades than I do when I walk through that classroom, even from the children I do not teach. They know that I love them, but I am forever telling them, "Get into that seat so you can have choices in this world."

When our students fail, we, as teachers, too, have failed.

I think what we've done is given children a lot of things that they didn't ask for instead of what they do want.

Praise is essential in developing the right attitude toward learning and toward school.

Kids don't fail. Teachers fail, school systems fail. The people who teach children that they are failures, they are the problem.

I got so tired of hearing those proverbs when I was a child. Now I use them all the time. Sometimes they are the best way to say what needs to be said. I teach them to my students. I have a collection of proverbs for class discussion and writing assignments.