can i make the weather?

Now, why would they show us this in our first few weeks of teacher training?

I have come to a frightening conclusion.
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make
a child’s life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or
an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations it is my response that decides
whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated,
and a child humanized or de-humanized.

— Dr. Haim G. Ginott

*gulp*

It's pretty scary. It's pretty inspiring. It's a challenge. I can work with that.
Lemme in that classroom! I don't want to be held responsible for any child who grows up hating school because they were bored, or bullied, or struggling, or distracted.

Long gone are my undergrad days when all the responsibility I had was to drink enough coffee to stay awake long enough for essay hand-in after pulling an all-nighter. As much as I might want to stay home, bake, watch movies, play music and generally English about, I can't. Sometimes it makes me huff and puff (it's very un-ladylike) but mostly I just want to get it right.

I can't wait to be a teacher.