Mr Browne's Precepts Quotes

MR. BROWNE'S SEPTEMBER PRECEPT: WHEN GIVEN THE CHOICE BETWEEN BEING RIGHT OR BEING KIND, CHOOSE KIND.

We carry within us the wonders we seek around us.

When it's dark, be the one who turns on the light. —Joseph, Age 9, Brooklyn, New York, November 29

I've learned that life is like a book. Sometimes we must close a chapter and begin the next one." —Hanz, Age 13, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, December 8

Hope is like the Sun. When it's behind the clouds, it's not gone. You just have to find it! —Matthew, Age 11, Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey, March 21

Hey, I’m an upstander—not a bystander!

Just goes to show, everyone really does have a story to tell. And most people, at least in my experience, are a little more noble than they think they are.

Be yourself, you will not get a second chance to. —Daniel, Age 12, Munich, Germany, October 14

You were born an original. don't become a copy. —Dustin, May 14

When I talk to parents who tell me, as a way of justifying something unkind their child has done, 'What can I do? Kids will be kids," it's all I can do not to bop them on their heads with a friendship bracelet." -Mr. Browne

I've always thought that good teaching is about illumination. Sure, we teach things kids might not know, but a lot of the time, we're just shedding light on the stuff they already know.

I agree, sometimes it's good to start over. A fresh start gives us the chance to reflect on the past, weigh the things we've done, and apply what we've learned from those things to the way we move forward. If we don't examine the past, we don't learn from it.

Teachers need the freedom to teach—freedom they can’t have if they’re only teaching so their students can pass tests. I’m pretty sure my students won’t find anything about Hector on the Common Core tests. I’m equally sure that what they learned about Wisdom, Justice, Courage, and Temperance may stay with them for the rest of their lives. —Mr. Browne

So here’s the thing about glitter: once it’s out of the bottle, there’s just no way of putting it back. It’s the same with kindness. Once it pours out of your soul, there’s no way of containing it. It just continues to spread from person to person, a shining, sparkling, wonderful thing.

I want you to start a brand-new section in your notebooks and call it Mr. Browne’s Precepts.” He kept talking as we did what he was telling us to do. “Put today’s date at the top of the first page. And from now on, at the beginning of every month, I’m going to write a new Mr. Browne precept on the chalkboard and you’re going to write it down in your notebook. Then we’re going to discuss that precept and what it means. And at the end of the month, you’re going to write an essay about it, about what it means to you. So by the end of the year, you’ll all have your own list of precepts to take away with you.

The truth of the matter is this: there’s so much nobility lurking inside your souls. Our job as parents, and educators, and teachers, is to nurture it, to bring it out, and to let it shine. —Mr. Browne

there’s a lot of unnecessary meanness that happens while you’re trying to sort out who you want to be, who your friends are, who your friends are not. Adults spend a lot of time talking about bullying in schools these days, but the real problem isn’t as obvious as one kid throwing a Slurpee in another kid’s face. It’s about social isolation. It’s about cruel jokes. It’s about the way kids treat one another. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, how old friends can turn against each other: it seems, sometimes, that it’s not enough for them to go their separate ways—they literally have to “ice” their old buddies out just to prove to the new friends that they’re no longer still friends. That’s the kind of stuff I don’t find acceptable. Fine, don’t be friends anymore: but stay kind about it. Be respectful. Is that too much to ask?

I always found that it helps to get my students thinking about unexplored frontiers - be they frontiers of the imagination or geographical frontiers" -Mr. Browne

Your best takes your time" -Thomas

Play the tiles you get" -Grandma Nelly

Life is not colorful. Life is coloring" -Paco

Success does not come through grades, degrees or distinctions. It comes through experiences that expand your belief in what is possible" -Matea

Sometimes kids don't even know they're leaders until they start to lead" -Mr. Browne

Mr. Browne’s precept for October was: YOUR DEEDS ARE YOUR MONUMENTS.

As I wrote down Mr. Browne’s September precept, I suddenly realized that I was going to like school. No matter what.

A SPOONFUL OF KINDNESS When Tommy, my son, was three years old, my wife, Lilly, and I took him for his annual checkup and the pediatrician asked us what his eating habits were like. “Well,” we confessed, “he’s going through this phase of only liking chicken fingers and carbs, so we’ve kind of given up trying to get him to eat vegetables for now. It’s become too much of a struggle every night.” The pediatrician nodded and smiled, and then said, “Well, you can’t really force him to eat the veggies, guys, but your job is to make sure they’re on his plate. He can’t eat them if they’re not even on his plate.” I’ve thought about that a lot over the years. I think about it with teaching. My students can’t learn what I don’t teach them. Kindness. Empathy. Compassion. It’s not part of the curriculum, I know, but I still have to keep dishing it out onto their plates every day. Maybe they’ll eat it; maybe they won’t. Either way, my job is to keep on serving it to them. Hopefully, a little mouthful of kindness today may make them hungry for a bigger taste of it tomorrow. —Mr. Browne

I plant a little notion of kindness so that at least it's there, this seedling buried inside them. Will it take root? Will it flower? Who knows? But either way, I've done my deed." -Mr. Browne

Then I start talking about the obvious benefits of the precept. If everyone adopted that quote as his or her own personal precept, I ask them, wouldn't the world be a better place? Imagine if nations adopted it as a mandate - wouldn't there be fewer conflicts?" -Mr. Browne

But asking myself the questions did make me ask myself another question, which is, what is 'normal' anyway? So i looked it up in oxforddictionaries.com. This is what is said: normal (adjective): conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected. And I was like, 'conforming to a standard'? 'Usual? Typical? Expected?' Ugh! Who the heck wanted to be 'expected' anyway? How lame is that?" -Jack Will

I've always thought that good teaching is about illumination. Sure, we teach things kids might not know, but a lot of the time, we're just shedding light on the stuff they already do know...Kids know how to read, but I'm trying to get them to love reading. Kids know how to write, but I'm trying to inspire them to express themselves better. In both instances, they have the materials they need already inside them: I'm just here to guide them a bit, to shed a little light. To illume." -Mr. Browne

Dear Ellie, I’m writing as one of your oldest friends to tell you that you’ve really been acting different lately, and I hope you snap out of it. I don’t blame you. I blame it on the evil Ximena Chin, who is negatively influencing you! First she twisted Savanna’s brain, and now she’s turning you into a pretty zombie just like she is. I hope you stop being friends with her and remember all the good times we used to have. Remember Mr. Browne’s November precept: “Have no friends not equal to yourself!” Can we please be friends again? Your former really good friend,

Well, you can't really force him to eat the veggies, guys, but your job is to make sure they're on his plate. He can't eat them if they're not even on his plate" -pediatrician "I've thought about that a lot over the years. I think about it with teaching. My students can't learn what I don't teach them. Kindness. Empathy. Compassion. It's not part of the curriculum, I know, but I still have to keep dishing it out onto their plates every day. Maybe they'll eat it; maybe they won't. Either way, my job is to keep on serving it to them. Hopefully, a little mouthful of kindness today may make them hungry for a bigger taste of it tomorrow" -Mr. Browne