As I was pouring my cup of morning coffee and staring out of my kitchen window I said to myself, "It would be so great if there were a Starbucks Coffee close by my house!" Not only does their coffee taste much superior to mine, but they have so many choices....hot coffee, iced coffee, flavored coffees, and the list goes on! As I daydreamed about Starbucks (clearly longer than I expected) I took another sip of my attempt at coffee. Yuck! Lukewarm coffee is not so great! As I poured another cup of hot coffee, I thought about how coffee preference can be like our teaching. We cannot be lukewarm teachers! We can be hot coffee- on fire and passionate while awakening others and warming souls. We can be iced coffee providing a refreshing break from the norm. But under no circumstances can we be lukewarm!
As many of us are preparing our classrooms and arranging our desks into stations, we must take a moment to evaluate where we are! Are we excited or are we lukewarm? Do we start the year as hot coffee to find that the end of the first grading period leaves us at room temperature? As you begin this new and exciting school year, remember to be hot (warming) or cold (refreshing)....but not lukewarm!
Starbucks...who does not love all of the choices available at that great coffee shop! Even us tea drinkers can find something we can relate to! Think about our students; do they all like to drink the same black coffee? If we were "selling" our classroom and all we had to offer was black coffee, would we get students to buy our product??? Probably not! We need to offer a variety of flavors, to meet the needs of our customers. Look at your class, you have chai drinkers, latte drinkers, some black coffee drinkers, and some who opt for hot chocolate. How will you meet the needs of your customers? How will you sell your wares if you only offer one product?
ReplyDeleteLuke warm black coffee is not for anyone : )