it sums up my philosophy about life and learning and teaching. it needs no explanation or expansion. you can bring your own background to your understanding of my mantra and insert your own meaning. what it means to me might only be of value to me. only connect (did you see what i did there?) to the words and make them yours.
i've even used only connect as my classroom mantra. my kids know all about connections because we talk about them constantly. NOT just because making connections is a reading strategy that helps some kids connect (oops, i did it again) in multiple ways, but because my kids bring so many diverse bits of schema to our classroom and they - ON THEIR OWN - make connections between their lives and the things we learn.
but after watching this little video about mantras, i altered my classroom mantra just a bit. i found the vid in this blog from a principal. his staff created this mantra - EMPOWER, ACHIEVE, LEAD. no offense to his team, but that just seems like a mission statement cut down to three words. they're almost disconnected (oh, turn it around).
then i thought about my mantra and what it means/doesn't mean to the little ones in my class. and i rewrote it.
the revised mantra has multiple meanings for me as i hope it will for them and as i hope it will for you.
we always connect.
