It's a phrase I use in my classroom everyday. I say it without thought and enforce it without hesitation. "Show me you are ready to learn. Show me you are ready to read. Show me you are ready to listen." And my children do.
For educators there is so much power in showing. It is much more powerful than saying. We model how to do everything because our students don't learn from us telling them something, they learn from us showing them something.
And just as we show them, they show us. They show us that they are ready to learn something new by asking questions, by their intent looks, by their body language. Or, they show us they are not ready by their chatting, their blank looks or their defiant behavior. But their showing always proves more powerful than their saying.
The same holds true for our principals, our politicians, our policy makers. Many of them say they are for our children, but their actions and policies show us that they are not.
So...
Show me you're ready...
to listen.
to read.
to write.
to believe.
to fight.
to change.
to learn.
