No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of others.
Charles Dickens
(This is the poster I put on the BACK wall of my classroom, to remind me why I went into teaching in the first place.)

Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope and, crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring; those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
Robert F. Kennedy
(This quotation reiterates my reasons for entering education as a career as well. It’s why teaching social responsibility is so important.)

Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
John Watson
(This one is on my desk; it reminds me to consider others’ situations, both colleagues, students, and parents, when I’m feeling not-so-terrific about them.)

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
Henry David Thoreau
(This one reminds me to allow those “square pegs,” as many call them, in my classroom to flourish in their own way.)

It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.
Mark Twain
(For those times when someone else takes the applause that you know you should have been recognized for.)

See triumph and defeat as the imposters that they are (not sure who)

Do the NEXT right thing. (my sister)