Everyone has inherent genius! Teachers identify genius that presents itself in various forms such as intellectual intelligence, emotional intelligence, physical intelligence, spiritual intelligence, or social intelligence when children enter school. Â On the first day, great teachers will begin to identify every single child’s unique potential and reinforce these so clearly that the child believes these traits are truly endowed to him or her. Â Teachers are like coaches helping every child reach the end goal! Â Great principals constantly model and validate their teacher’s talents, as well! Â This kind of energy empowers everyone in the school community to succeed, to create an entrepreneurial school of leaders! Â Here are some powerful tools to ensure that positive and affirming energy enable success in our classrooms.
- Â Eliminate negative behaviors and language by disallowing criticism and comparisons in any form.
- Alternatively, teach problem-solving tools so students know how to solve problems. Use affirming language.
- Â Encourage children to compete against their last scores in contrast to comparing one student to another. Model and share methods that demonstrate how to improve performance.
- Â Be sure to reinforce that success is connected to the choices that are made. Â Our choices are the software that determine success. Â In other words, our results are a product of our choices.
- Create engaging 21st Century projects where choice allows students to use their areas of expertise to find their voice.
What greater gift may we give to our children than acknowledging they can achieve anything they choose to do!  What a gift when they see that their learning is shifting from a level of teacher dependence to independent performance, and finally using their new learning to perform interdependently, just like an award-winning team? As Howard Garner explains, “Everyone has Multiple Intelligences.©”
Character building begins with helping every student develop an identity. Stephen R. Covey states, “Identity is Destiny.”  The “Leader in Meâ„¢” aligns staff, students, performance, language, actions, goals and beliefs to create a synergy that results in confident self-regulated  leaders!  One man can change the way we think, but an entire school can impact changes that reverberate throughout the world for a lifetime!
