Your mood and attitude create the atmosphere in the classroom.  Students want to feel that you are sincerely glad to spend time with them.  You can model positive ways to interact by saying please, thank you, and I’m sorry.  You can sing, act, dance, or not.  You don’t need to be a performer to let kids know you’re happy – but do smile.  In the video below, Dan Gilbert explains how we have the ability to create a state of happiness in our minds that rivals truly joyous experiences.

His talk reminds me of the “Choose Your Attitude”  idea from the book Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results.  I am comforted by the idea that I have the power to choose my reaction to events in my life.  Upon self-reflection, I find that I have mastered my reaction to spilled milk at snack time.  I am stilling working on my reaction to the child who immediately does what I have just asked the whole class not to do.  And I am going to need much intervention and remediation in order to find my “happy place” during staff meetings when teachers are hashing out whether we should use the word “of” or “for” in our school mission statement.  It will pass. Think Happy – Think Happy – Think Happy 🙂

“Every thought is a seed.  If you plant crab apples, don’t count on harvesting Golden Delicious.” – Bill Meyer