Wednesday, August 29, 2007

fear

'Fear leads to anger, which leads to hate, which leads to suffering. This is the path to the dark side.' ~ Yoda, Star Wars

The speaker yesterday, Dr. Jed Baker, opened his lecture with this quote. He talked about how as teachers we can't be scared of our kids and situations. He mentioned the anxiety teachers can feel about being in control in front of others (administrators, fellow teachers, etc), which leads to reactive discipline rather than good teaching.

He then applied the quote to kids on the autism spectrum. Our job is to teach them the skills they need to integrate into society so that they will not fear, be angry,or hate, which can all lead to throwing chairs, running, biting, or other coping mechanisms.

I thought this concept of fear leading to suffering was perfect. So true not only for our kids but for us as well.

I just quoted Star Wars on my blog. Never saw that one coming...

1 comment:

Suzanne G. said...

Excellent post! Amen!