What can Junie B. Jones
Junie B.’s new lunch box is right under her desk. She knows she’s not supposed to keep sneaking looks at it, but her teacher’s not watching – just one more time…… Busted!
At the school’s Secret Santa Shop Junie B. has money to buy Christmas presents and ends up spending most of it on………………herself!
As teachers, we have all had to become self disciplined in some aspects of our lives, like studying for college exams, giving up a trip to the beach because we have to work, and not eating more than our share of the doughnuts in the staff lounge. If you are anything like me you can identify some areas you’d still like to improve upon. Mine include completing next week’s lesson plans mid week so I don’t have to stay late on Friday (which I do, more often than not) and eliminating time wasting activities from my prep time (never, never, never enough time).
Self discipline can be a great thing………….. especially for this cat:
But ……once in a while ……you do need to sneak a peek at your new lunch bag and even spend a little money on (gasp!) yourself!
That’s right, self discipline is great but ONLY for the right reasons. Spontaneity, flexibility, friendliness openness, and creativity also have a big place in the life of a successful teacher.
When you’re teaching a lesson, don’t power through it even if you know the class is lost. A super self-disciplined teacher would finish that lesson and cross it off the lesson plans. Not cool. A teacher who gets “distracted” learns to recognize the signs from the class that say STOP – FIND THE PROBLEM – SWITCH GEARS. You can teach the lesson, but if the students aren’t learning it, what good is it? Junie B.’s teacher Mr. Scary realized this when he allowed her the time to show her prized lunch box to the class.
Many times I have found myself in the position of completing the hard work, not because I “should” but because I know there is a benefit to my self discipline. Like if I spend a little time each day organizing my files (ugh!) then I will be able to find what I need faster. What is most important is having the ability to chose when to persevere and when to be impulsive. We need both tools in our teacher toolbox.
Even June B came around when she forced herself to give May (of all people) the Christmas gift she bought for herself. Way to go, girl!
For further information read this:
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/selfdiscipline.htm
Some Junie B. Jones books:
Kat and Squirrel 
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Thank you for your kind words.