Caitlin Flanagan Quotes

I think the best teachers had a real interest in the subject they were teaching and a love for children. Some of the teachers were just doing their job, but others had that little extra. They really cared about children and they wore pretty dresses.

I didn't love school.

I started out as a high school teacher in inner-city Chicago and realized quite quickly that my students weren't that motivated.

The teachers are trying to build the same culture in the classroom as we're building in the organization.

We've long believed teachers know best what their students need to succeed, and that includes the creation of healthy, supportive school communities.

Most of my teachers probably found I made less trouble if they let me read.

School is a twelve-year jail sentence where bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned. I teach school and win awards doing it. I should know.

We expert teachers know that motivation and emotional impact are what matter.

Teaching is like flying a plane. You leave school one day feeling like you're spiraling down toward the trees, expecting that the next day the crash will come. You brace yourself for the impact, only to find that things have leveled out at treetop height, and you climb and enjoy the remainder of the flight.

The best teachers are those who keep students motivated, challenged and flourishing.

I think the best teachers had a real interest in the subject they were teaching and a love for children.

As a former high school teacher and a student in a class of 60 urchins at St. Brigid's grammar school, I know that education is all about discipline and motivation. Disadvantaged students need extra attention, a stable school environment, and enough teacher creativity to stimulate their imaginations. Those things are not expensive.

We have found that the most successful teachers in low-income communities operate like successful leaders. They establish a vision of where their students will be performing at the end of the year that many believe to be unrealistic.

What we want is more learning in schools and less activism in schools.

I have seen schools across the country working long and hard to embed a commitment to the unlimited development of every student into their cultures. The result, in terms of motivated learners and test scores, often is spectacular.

Successful state schools work because charismatic heads or teachers are terrific bluffers, giving the impression that they are to be feared while knowing in their hearts that they have no real power.

I remember the first day of school my first year in the classroom. My stomach churned with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Could I do the job? Could I connect with the kids? Will there be the chemistry to build relationships and get the job done, or will I totally flop?

Education is, in the end, about individual interactions and about learning.

A big part of teaching is being emphatic. Maybe I'm right or wrong, but part of my approach was that when I said something, the kids understood exactly what I meant and what I wanted.

If you have a class of 35 children, and they're all smiling, and there's one little bastard, and he's just staring at you as if to say 'Show me', then he's the one you think about going home on the train.

There are essential elements for our public schools to fully develop the potential of both students and educators. They should be centers of community, where students, families and educators work together to support student success. They should foster collaboration.

It's hard to get an education when teachers spend 70 percent of their time trying to discipline students.

A lot of schools benefit from parents who are first- or second-generation immigrants, who expect the best for their children.

I love to teach; that's paramount.

You know, nothing is more important than education, because nowhere are our stakes higher; our future depends on the quality of education of our children today.