Actions speak louder than words and your body language speaks volumes.

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18NIV

Actions speak louder than words  and  your body language speaks volumes.  Children of all ages are so perceptive.  You may say or refrain from saying something verbally but if your body screams  it non verbally and it is negative the damage is the same . I know because I have felt both by reading others body language. Your actions both direct and indirect will reveal what you think and feel.

When I taught in Amarillo I taught children who were rejected by their classmates and by some teachers as well. They were ridiculed, shunned, and sometimes simply ignored as if they didn't matter. By the time they got to me they were beaten down, hopeless, bitter, and most often a behavior problem. I was a new teacher and was unsuccessful at reaching them at first and no work was getting done. So I changed my tactics. It dawned on me that I wouldn't want to do any work either if I walked in those doors of that school every day and felt rejection. So I set out to get to know each student because I felt I needed to  truly care about them  and you can't really care about someone you don't know. You can but I needed to develop a relationship with them.  So I reached out and my heart changed as they shared their lives, often heartbreaking lives and relationships were built. Not long after that I saw them through different eyes and they knew I really cared and in turn they cared about me . Once that bridge of relationship was built and strong enough I was able to hold them accountable for their work . And they began to work for me. It was hard because I made it my goal to let EACH ONE know I cared for them.  Some of them were hard to like but I knew if they got on my nerves the chances  were high they were driving everyone else crazy because I was pretty laid back:)  But I knew  if I searched hard enough I could find something I liked . That if I searched hard enough I would see the best  in them because we see what we look for whether the best or the worst . It was important to genuinely care because they would know if I was faking it. As I said before children of all ages are so very  perceptive regardless of their intellect. Although I didn't know God at the time he did a tremendous work using the pain , rejection , and neglect from my past as well as my popularity in school to  enable me to reach them and have compassion. Because although my home life was filled with rejection and neglect  I found acceptance at school . I knew how important it was to feel accepted somewhere and to belong. I tried to create that for them and I was successful  at the least for the time they were with me. In a way that became my teaching  philosophy to create a place where students  feel that  they matter ,are  accepted, and that they belong so learning can take place:)) I don't know  if I made a lasting difference in their life because it was students in Amarillo that I saw in prison. All I know is when they came running up to me that day they were happy to see me although surprised that I was an inmate too. One day the officer who guarded the school where GED classes took place and where I worked in the library told me one of the inmates said that I was a very good teacher that I was her favorite teacher. This officer  was usually harsh and cold with me but that day she spoke to me nicely and seemed to look at me through different eyes after that. She seemed to see the best in me and treated me with a little more kindness, I could see it in her expressions and her body language . It felt good to feel accepted by her even though I was an inmate. It felt good for someone to see the best in me at the worst part of my life.