Introduction

I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom.

It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the

weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or

joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal.

In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-