Encouraging Grades Quotes

Some who support [more] coercive strategies assume that children will run wild if they are not controlled. However, the children for whom this is true typically turn out to be those accustomed to being controlled— those who are not trusted, given explanations, encouraged to think for themselves, helped to develop and internalize good values, and so on. Control breeds the need for more control, which is used to justify the use of control.

I guess that isn't the right word," she said. She was used to apologizing for her use of language. She had been encouraged to do a lot of that in school. Most white people in Midland City were insecure when they spoke, so they kept their sentences short and their words simple, in order to keep embarrassing mistakes to a minimum. Dwayne certainly did that. Patty certainly did that. This was because their English teachers would wince and cover their ears and give them flunking grades and so on whenever they failed to speak like English aristocrats before the First World War. Also: they were told that they were unworthy to speak or write their language if they couldn't love or understand incomprehensible novels and poems and plays about people long ago and far away, such as Ivanhoe.

You do not have power over me to make me feel bad about myself.

Bullies have issues within themselves and they are uncomfortable in their skin. So, they’d rather make someone feel bad to pick themselves up.

Teachers always say—"we will never know unless they tell us”. We tell them, but they ignore us… …I did tell you, I always tell you.

One might say, I am too young to experience bullying. Believe it or not, bullying happens to kids who are younger than me.

Teachers just don’t understand bullying hurts.

When I am at school, I smile to block the hurt. When I am with my family I can always be myself.

We shouldn’t give anyone the ability to rob our children of happiness. Bullying shouldn't be taken lightly. Bullying is a Silent Killer!

I can speak up for myself, but I decided you are not worth my time. You do not have the power to bully me anymore. I know who I am.

Do not stand up against a bully alone.

Do not ignore being bullied, because it will never stop.

Stand firm, speak up—because silence is not golden, instead, it is deadly. Do not ignore being bullied, because it will never stop.

I always tell my teachers, and I thought it was going to get better.

What’s the point in telling the teacher when the innocent people are ignored and get in trouble, and the bad kids always get away with everything?

If your teachers don’t listen, tell someone who you trust. Let them be aware of the situation, regardless of whether or not it is ongoing. Let them know every single time it happens.

I might be little but I am fierce. I might be patient, but I am quick, and when I am quiet that means I am focused. You have a fire under your feet and nobody can put out those flames.

I tried explaining, but my voice wasn’t heard. How is that fair? I wondered to myself—why wasn’t my voice heard and why do the good kids always get in trouble for defending themselves?

We have reared a generation of incredibly bright young people, who have been fed a diet of instant gratification, seasoned with self-absorbed heroes who function in a culture that encourages superficiality.

When I am being bullied, my teachers never listen. They always think I am making it up—or they will try to sugar-coat the situation. They fail to realize that children have feelings too, and we deserve to be heard.

This has been the worst year because teachers do not understand bullying hurts. This has been a rough year because I had to fight for peace. But this has been the best year ever because I finally took up for myself.

I had to defend myself because I was tired of hurting and being bullied.

I tell my teachers, but they never do anything!

When your teachers do not do anything about it—it is sad when you have to take matters in your own hands. It is scary. I was scared when I fought back, but I had to do it.

When I smile around my family it is real, but when I am at school, I smile to block the hurt.

To be honest, teachers just don’t understand bullying hurts.

When my child was bullied and called names for years, you all didn’t care. Now all of a sudden, since he/she is taking up for him/herself, it’s a problem.

I want to turn every person who has been bullied into their own hero!

I want to turn every person who has been bullied into their own hero—if I can do it, others can do it too. I am proud of myself.

One wish I would like to be granted is for teachers to understand bullying hurts. Bullying tears a person down, inside and out.

One wish I would like to be granted is for teachers to understand bullying hurts. Bullying tears a person down, inside and out. It stings and deeply pierces the heart.

I wish teachers would take bullying seriously because we, as students, are hurting. We tell the teacher for a reason.

Bullying shouldn't be taken lightly. Bullying is a Silent Killer!

How can a person feel good for making someone else feel bad? I do not understand.

I wish teachers would take bullying seriously because we, as students, are hurting.

I am learning that bullies cannot break me—because their words are empty, because I matter. I am loved. I am supported. I love myself too much for someone to tear me down.

Stand firm, speak up—because silence is not golden, instead, it is deadly.

Words hurt my feelings. It really hurts when everyone else laughs too. It is not a good feeling. Not a good feeling at all.

Bullies know exactly what they are doing! They make it seem like it was a mistake to the teacher’s face—and the teachers always fall for it.

I tried telling my teacher about it, but she/he ignored me and told me ‘not right now’ and to get in line.

I have to defend myself because if I don’t, I am going to be a target for everyone to push around.

I tried explaining, but like always, it went unheard.

I did what you told me to do. I always tell my teachers, and I thought it was going to get better.

I did tell you, I always tell you.

We are deeply hurting inside and out because our feelings are constantly being ignored.

Bullies always get away with doing wrong, because most of the time they never get caught.

When I am at school, I smile to block the hurt.

Then, one glorious day, our principal announced that any student with a passing grade-point average could apply for a transfer to the new OASIS public school system. The real public school system, the one run by the government, had been an underfunded, overcrowded train wreck for decades. And now the conditions at many schools had gotten so terrible that every kid with half a brain was being encouraged to stay at home and attend school online.

Teachers just don’t understand how I feel inside. They think since they asked us to apologize, their job is done. It isn’t done, because I still hurt from the name-calling, hitting, humiliation, sleepless nights, and from feeling alone and depressed at school.

I am tired of you all tolerating bullying at your school! You all should be ashamed of yourselves! Take the wool off of your eyes and see the truth for what it is--and it is the bullying; known as the Silent Killer!

Do not stand up against a bully alone. If your teachers don’t listen, tell someone who you trust. Let them be aware of the situation, regardless of whether or not it is ongoing. Let them know every single time it happens.

I did not want to fight. I had to fight. If I didn’t, everyone else would have picked on me. Not only would I have had one bully, but maybe two, three, four or who knows how many. I had to do what I had to do since the principal, assistant principal, and my teachers weren’t doing anything about it.

Characteristics of sound feedback include that it should be frequent, give students a clear picture of their progress and how they might improve, and provide encouragement.

I also try to treat people the way I want to be treated. I guess other people do not think the same as I do.

I was miserable going to school every day.

Bullies want to act like they are hard, but inside they are afraid.

Some students are mean, spoiled, rude, and seem as though they do not have a loving bone in their bodies.

When I tell them, they think I am always making it up, and they never believe me. They never do anything about it.

I feel better knowing it is okay to take up for myself.

How is it fair that the respectful children always get in trouble and the bullies get away with shattering lives? You all need to put a stop to bullying instead of condoning it.

I might be little but I am fierce. I might be patient, but I am quick, and when I am quiet that means I am focused.

You have a fire under your feet and nobody can put out those flames.

Bullies always get away with doing wrong because most of the time they never get caught.

When I was being bullied and called names for years, you all didn’t care. Now all of a sudden I am taking up for myself, it is a problem.

We have to keep standing up for ourselves and make a difference. Every voice needs to be heard.

Bullying is a Silent Killer!

You do not have the power to bully me anymore. I know who I am.

Throughout my challenges with being bullied, I learned I have a choice, I have a voice, I have power over my thoughts, and my bully does not have power over me.

Teachers Just Don't Understand Bullying Hurts!

It is not fair to be treated this way.

I shouldn’t be scared of bullies, because bullies are the ones who are scared. That is why they bully people.

My teachers always say they will talk to the students… Yeah right, that is what all of my teachers say, but the same students bully me over and over again.

I guess since it was two against one—my truth didn’t hold enough weight. They played the innocent role.

I am not afraid of you. I do not fear you; you do not scare me. You are a big bully who is afraid, and scared of yourself!

What is a student supposed to do? When we try to prevent a situation, we are told to be quiet and sit down. The teachers never listen, yet they always say, tell the teacher. Why? When teachers don’t listen, they do not care, and they just do not understand.

I was okay knowing I was getting an education without having friends at school. I made up my mind to be a leader instead of a follower. Kindness is contagious—it should be passed on effortlessly.

Stand firm, speak up—because silence is not golden, instead, it is deadly. Do not ignore being bullied, because it will never stop. Throughout my challenges with being bullied, I learned I have a choice, I have a voice, I have power over my thoughts, and my bully does not have power over me. Do not stand up against a bully alone.

To be honest, teachers just don’t understand bullying hurts. They don’t want to know, and they care less about kids’ feelings, we have feelings too. Our feelings matter, but overall, they just don’t care.

I tell my teachers, but they never do anything! They would tell us to apologize. I do not understand. why do I have to apologize? After the other person apologizes, they hit me or call me names more quietly.

I’ve learned to bully doesn’t only involve attacking someone physically or verbally; it is so much more. Bullying consists of invading other people’s property, humiliation, mind games (pretending to be someone’s friend), manipulation, making threats, spreading rumors, showing aggressive behavior, and/or excluding someone from a group on purpose.

I did tell you, I always tell you. Not all the time, because nothing is ever done so I stopped telling my teachers. If one teacher isn’t around—I would tell another teacher, but he/she too will ignore what I am saying.

Simply changing one three-letter word can often spell the difference between failure and success in changing people without giving offense or arousing resentment. Many people begin their criticism with sincere praise followed by the word “but” and ending with a critical statement. For example, in trying to change a child’s careless attitude toward studies, we might say, “We’re really proud of you, Johnnie, for raising your grades this term. But if you had worked harder on your algebra, the results would have been better.” In this case, Johnnie might feel encouraged until he heard the word “but.” He might then question the sincerity of the original praise. To him, the praise seemed only to be a contrived lead-in to a critical inference of failure. Credibility would be strained, and we probably would not achieve our objectives of changing Johnnie’s attitude toward his studies. This could be easily overcome by changing the word “but” to “and.” “We’re really proud of you, Johnnie, for raising your grades this term, and by continuing the same conscientious efforts next term, your algebra grade can be up with all the others.

My teachers would think the problem was solved. It wasn’t… because the same person would still pick on me, just more quietly, so the teacher wouldn’t hear him. It only got worse, and more people began to pick on me because they knew they were not going to get into trouble. I was miserable going to school every day.

I guess since it was two against one—my truth didn’t hold enough weight. They played the innocent role. They said I was picking on them. I tried explaining, but my voice wasn’t heard. How is that fair? I wondered to myself—why wasn’t my voice heard and why do the good kids always get in trouble for defending themselves?

Bullies have issues within themselves and they are uncomfortable in their skin. So, they’d rather make someone feel bad to pick themselves up. I wonder why people want to be so cruel with their words. The kids that bully me are so rude, nasty and disrespectful. How can a person feel good for making someone else feel bad? I do not understand.

I am tired of you all tolerating bullying at your school! You all should be ashamed of yourselves! You all need to put a stop to bullying instead of condoning it. Take the wool off of your eyes and see the truth for what it is--and it is the bullying; known as the Silent Killer!

I was being drilled again, for something someone did to me. I followed the rules, told the teacher, and once again—I still got punished for it. How and why did I get in trouble? Wow—what sense does that make? None. None what so ever. Once again, I was being bullied and it was ignored.

One might say, I am too young to experience bullying. Believe it or not, bullying happens to kids who are younger than me. When I am being bullied my teachers never listen. They always think I am making it up—or they will try to sugar-coat the situation. They fail to realize that children have feelings too, and we deserve to be heard. Teachers just don’t understand bullying hurts.

If you read many of my Middle Grade and YA book series, you would notice the common theme of how the main characters always choose to be good. That's because when you write for YA, as an author, you automatically become a person of authority. Be a good role model yourself as a YA author. Help teens grow up into responsible and good adults. YA Authors - Don't get accused of sexual harassment (like some authors) or of encouraging your teen readers to gang up on and bully /harass an author. I've been the receiving end of that kind of behavior, and it is cyberbullying and harassment. Authors and anyone in a position of authority who encourage teens and kids to cyberbully another human being is not a good role model. Parents and Teachers should help their kids choose books and role models. When a teen has committed cyberbullying as a minor, but grows it, they can still be held accountable for that. In many states, cyberbullying is a crime. - Strong by Kailin Gow

How is the fair that the respectful children always get in trouble, but the bullies always get away with shattering lives. I am tired of you all tolerating bullying at your school! You all should be ashamed of yourselves! You all need to put a stop to bullying instead of condoning it. Take the wool off of your eyes and see the truth for what it is--and it is the bullying; known as the Silent Killer!

I was fragile, buried in broken dreams, and felt hopeless because of what my classmates said and did to me… No, it is not fair, not at all. Nearly every single day, elementary school has been a challenge. I have many wishes that I would love to come true but one wish I would like to be granted is for teachers to understand bullying hurts.

I tell my teachers, but they never do anything! They would tell us to apologize. I do not understand, why do I have to apologize? After the other person apologizes, they hit me or call me names more quietly. Teachers just don’t understand how I feel inside. They think since they asked us to apologize, their job is done. It isn’t done, because I still hurt from the name-calling, hitting, humiliation, sleepless nights, and from feeling alone and depressed at school.

Stanford University's psychologist Carol Dweck and her colleagues have discovered that what you believe about intellectual ability—whether you think it's a fixed gift, or an earned ability that can be developed—makes a difference to your behavior, persistence, and performance. Students who see ability as fixed—as a gift—are more vulnerable to setbacks and difficulties. And stereotypes, as Dweck rightly points out, "are stories about gifts—who has them and who doesn't." Dweck and her colleagues are shown that when students are encouraged to see math ability as something that grows with effort—pointing out, for example, that the brain forges new connections and develops better ability every time they practice a task—grades improve and gender gaps diminish (relative to groups given control interventions).

I glance over my shoulder, at the car following close behind us. It’s impossible to see the driver. To tell if it’s Cassian. After a moment, it pulls around and passes us. I sigh. “Why do I get the feeling that I’m abducting you? Should I be on alert for sirens in the rearview mirror?” “I left willingly.” I force a grin and tease, “I don’t think you’ll get arrested.” “Great. You don’t ‘think.’ That’s encouraging.” He gives me a wincing smile. “But maybe not. I am eighteen, after all—” “You’re eighteen? But you’re a sophomore.” An uneasy look passes over his face. “I missed a lot of school a few years back. Half of seventh grade and all of eighth, in fact. I was sick.” “Sick?” I echo. That reminder of his mortality crashes down on me. It’ll always be there, smoke rising between us. Xander had mentioned Will being ill, but I never imagined it as anything serious. “How? I mean, what . . .” He shrugs like it’s nothing, but he won’t glance at me. He stares at the road. “Leukemia. But I’m better now. Completely cured.” “Were you very . . . bad off?” “For about a year. The prognosis wasn’t—” He stops suddenly, like he’s said too much, and I get that sense again. The feeling that he’s not telling me something. That he’s holding back. A muscle in his jaw ripples with tension. “Look, don’t worry about it. Aren’t I a perfect male specimen now?” He sends me a wink. “Don’t I look healthy?” I really didn’t like when I found out that Will was actually 18 years old, instead of the 16 that Jacinda was.

The Thai people are pathologically shy. Combine that with a reluctance to lose face by giving a wrong answer, and it makes for a painfully long [ESL] class. Usually I ask the students to work on exercises in small groups, and then I move around and check their progress. But for days like today, when I'm grading on participation, speaking up in public is a necessary evil. "Jao," I say to a man in my class. "You own a pet store, and you want to convince Jaidee to buy a pet." I turn to a second man. "Jaidee, you do not want to buy that pet. Let's hear your conversation." They stand up, clutching their papers. "This dog is reccommended," Jao begins. "I have one already," Jaidee replies. "Good job!" I encourage. "Jao, give him a reason why he should buy your dog." "This dog is alive," Jao adds. Jaidee shrugs. "Not everyone wants a pet that is alive." Well, not all days are successes...

teachers do not hold bombs or knives, they are still dangerous enemies. They fill us with insidious revisionist ideas. They teach us that scholars are superior to workers. They promote personal ambition by encouraging competition for the highest grades. All these things are intended to change good young socialists into corrupt revisionists. They are invisible knives that are even more dangerous than real knives or guns. For example, a student from Yu-cai High School killed himself because he failed the university entrance examination. Brainwashed by his teachers, he believed his sole aim in life was to enter a famous university and become a scientist—

Many researchers have sought the secret of successful education by identifying the most successful schools in the hope of discovering what distinguishes them from others. One of the conclusions of this research is that the most successful schools, on average, are small. In a survey of 1,662 schools in Pennsylvania, for instance, 6 of the top 50 were small, which is an overrepresentation by a factor of 4. These data encouraged the Gates Foundation to make a substantial investment in the creation of small schools, sometimes by splitting large schools into smaller units. At least half a dozen other prominent institutions, such as the Annenberg Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trust, joined the effort, as did the U.S. Department of Education’s Smaller Learning Communities Program. This probably makes intuitive sense to you. It is easy to construct a causal story that explains how small schools are able to provide superior education and thus produce high-achieving scholars by giving them more personal attention and encouragement than they could get in larger schools. Unfortunately, the causal analysis is pointless because the facts are wrong. If the statisticians who reported to the Gates Foundation had asked about the characteristics of the worst schools, they would have found that bad schools also tend to be smaller than average. The truth is that small schools are not better on average; they are simply more variable. If anything, say Wainer and Zwerling, large schools tend to produce better results, especially in higher grades where a variety of curricular options is valuable. Thanks to recent advances in cognitive psychology,

In their writing on education, Deci and Ryan proceed from the principle that humans are natural learners and children are born creative and curious, “intrinsically motivated for the types of behaviors that foster learning and development.” This idea is complicated, however, by the fact that part of learning anything, be it painting or programming or eighth-grade algebra, involves a lot of repetitive practice, and repetitive practice is usually pretty boring. Deci and Ryan acknowledge that many of the tasks that teachers ask students to complete each day are not inherently fun or satisfying; it is the rare student who feels a deep sense of intrinsic motivation when memorizing her multiplication tables. It is at these moments that extrinsic motivation becomes important: when behaviors must be performed not for the inherent satisfaction of completing them, but for some separate outcome. Deci and Ryan say that when students can be encouraged to internalize those extrinsic motivations, the motivations become increasingly powerful. This is where the psychologists return to their three basic human needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. When teachers are able to create an environment that promotes those three feelings, they say, students exhibit much higher levels of motivation. And how does a teacher create that kind of environment? Students experience autonomy in the classroom, Deci and Ryan explain, when their teachers “maximize a sense of choice and volitional engagement” while minimizing students’ feelings of coercion and control. Students feel competent, they say, when their teachers give them tasks that they can succeed at but that aren’t too easy — challenges just a bit beyond their current abilities. And they feel a sense of relatedness when they perceive that their teachers like and value and respect them.

1. What is this force, Lucilius, that drags us in one direction when we are aiming in another, urging us on to the exact place from which we long to withdraw? What is it that wrestles with our spirit, and does not allow us to desire anything once for all? We veer from plan to plan. None of our wishes is free, none is unqualified, none is lasting. 2. "But it is the fool," you say, "who is inconsistent; nothing suits him for long." But how or when can we tear ourselves away from this folly? No man by himself has sufficient strength to rise above it; he needs a helping hand, and some one to extricate him. 3. Epicurus remarks that certain men have worked their way to the truth without any one's assistance, carving out their own passage. And he gives special praise to these, for their impulse has come from within, and they have forged to the front by themselves. Again, he says, there are others who need outside help, who will not proceed unless someone leads the way, but who will follow faithfully. Of these, he says, Metrodorus was one; this type of man is also excellent, but belongs to the second grade. We ourselves are not of that first class, either; we shall be well treated if we are admitted into the second. Nor need you despise a man who can gain salvation only with the assistance of another; the will to be saved means a great deal, too. 4. You will find still another class of man, – and a class not to be despised, – who can be forced and driven into righteousness, who do not need a guide as much as they require someone to encourage and, as it were, to force them along. This is the third variety. If you ask me for a man of this pattern also, Epicurus tells us that Hermarchus was such. And of the two last-named classes, he is more ready to congratulate the one, but he feels more respect for the other; for although both reached the same goal, it is a greater credit to have brought about the same result with the more difficult material upon which to work.

The important parts of my story, I was realizing, lay less in the surface value of my accomplishments and more in what undergirded them—the many small ways I’d been buttressed over the years, and the people who’d helped build my confidence over time. I remembered them all, every person who’d ever waved me forward, doing his or her best to inoculate me against the slights and indignities I was certain to encounter in the places I was headed—all those environments built primarily for and by people who were neither black nor female. I thought of my great-aunt Robbie and her exacting piano standards, how she’d taught me to lift my chin and play my heart out on a baby grand even if all I’d ever known was an upright with broken keys. I thought of my father, who showed me how to box and throw a football, same as Craig. There were Mr. Martinez and Mr. Bennett, my teachers at Bryn Mawr, who never dismissed my opinions. There was my mom, my staunchest support, whose vigilance had saved me from languishing in a dreary second-grade classroom. At Princeton, I’d had Czerny Brasuell, who encouraged me and fed my intellect in new ways. And as a young professional, I’d had, among others, Susan Sher and Valerie Jarrett—still good friends and colleagues many years later—who showed me what it looked like to be a working mother and consistently opened doors for me, certain I had something to offer. These were people who mostly didn’t know one another and would never have occasion to meet, many of whom I’d fallen out of touch with myself. But for me, they formed a meaningful constellation. These were my boosters, my believers, my own personal gospel choir, singing, Yes, kid, you got this! all the way through. I’d never forgotten it. I’d tried, even as a junior lawyer, to pay it forward, encouraging curiosity when I saw it, drawing younger people into important conversations.