NO SMILING ZONE
In the 6-weeks before I started teaching (crash course of "everything you need to know about education and what we didn't cover you can find in this book") I heard the same statement frostudents_bannerm every single one of my teachers, advisors, mentors, and administrators each day - "whatever you do - DON'T SMILE."
Hearing it from so many people who presented with so much experience and knowledge, I fought what came naturally to me because I kept telling myself there is no way that all these highly educated, extremely experienced people could be wrong. But in my opinion, they were wrong - VERY WRONG!
That first year with my first "real" class, I did not smile. This advice from the experts in my field left me with a class …show more content…
Even as a principal I was told don't smile at your students or your staff. I felt like I was reliving year one all over again at the same time as questioning myself and what I knew to be the truth when it comes to kids, adults, anyone for that matter. Who wants to engage with someone who is staring at you with their unfriendly, unapproachable, uncaring, not smiling face?
WHY SMILING MATTERS
According to a post on Psychology Today, "Each time you smile you throw a little feel-good party in your brain. The act of smiling activates neural messaging that benefits your health and happiness." As educators know, teaching can be stressful so anything to help encourage happiness and health while reducing stress is a win-win in the education world.
The post also goes on to say, "Looking at the bigger picture, each time you smile at a person, their brain coaxes them to return the favor. You are creating a symbiotic relationship that allows both of you to release feel good chemicals in your brain, activate reward centers, make you both more attractive and increase the chances of you both living longer, healthier lives." If that is not argument alone, I don't know what else could persuade
In the 6-weeks before I started teaching (crash course of "everything you need to know about education and what we didn't cover you can find in this book") I heard the same statement frostudents_bannerm every single one of my teachers, advisors, mentors, and administrators each day - "whatever you do - DON'T SMILE."
Hearing it from so many people who presented with so much experience and knowledge, I fought what came naturally to me because I kept telling myself there is no way that all these highly educated, extremely experienced people could be wrong. But in my opinion, they were wrong - VERY WRONG!
That first year with my first "real" class, I did not smile. This advice from the experts in my field left me with a class …show more content…
Even as a principal I was told don't smile at your students or your staff. I felt like I was reliving year one all over again at the same time as questioning myself and what I knew to be the truth when it comes to kids, adults, anyone for that matter. Who wants to engage with someone who is staring at you with their unfriendly, unapproachable, uncaring, not smiling face?
WHY SMILING MATTERS
According to a post on Psychology Today, "Each time you smile you throw a little feel-good party in your brain. The act of smiling activates neural messaging that benefits your health and happiness." As educators know, teaching can be stressful so anything to help encourage happiness and health while reducing stress is a win-win in the education world.
The post also goes on to say, "Looking at the bigger picture, each time you smile at a person, their brain coaxes them to return the favor. You are creating a symbiotic relationship that allows both of you to release feel good chemicals in your brain, activate reward centers, make you both more attractive and increase the chances of you both living longer, healthier lives." If that is not argument alone, I don't know what else could persuade