7 Life Lessons Taught in Grade School
January 21, 2022
Life lessons we learn from teachers at school that has meaning.
Throughout the course of the year, teachers spend a substantial amount of time with their students. They are very influential to the young mind by nature because that’s how they are qualified to teach. They take advantage of opportunities to teach life lessons when they present themselves. Life lessons taught by teachers have made a lasting impact on many students. In many cases, sharing these life lessons can have a far greater impact than teaching standard based content.
Teachers often use both direct and indirect opportunities to incorporate life lessons. Directly, there are natural components of schooling that lead to learning life lessons. Here are some that I tend to remember from back when I was able to have stickers on my bike without being made fun of by my colleagues.
1) You Are Special
Every teacher should, need, and expect to drive this home to every student they teach. We all are unique in our own little ways. Not one of us is alike e.g. our fingerprints. Talents and qualities are what makes us special. Sadly, too many children feel inadequate and unimportant. We should strive to ensure that all students believe that they matter.
2) You Cannot Control Who Your Parents Are
Parents are the largest influence on any child. When they are born, the mother and father are that baby’s first teachers. In some cases, this influence may be negative in nature. However, most parents want the best for their children although they may not know how to give it to them. It is vital that teachers let their students know that they have the capability to control their own future, making different decisions than their parents, which can lead to a better life.
3) Remain Trustworthy
In a world where being rude, lying, and envy is around us and slowly becoming a norm, being trustworthy is an easy, yet for some people a hard lifestyle to implement in oneself. Being a trustworthy person means that those around you believe that you will tell the truth, keep secrets (so long as they do not put others in danger), and will carry out tasks that you have promised to do. Teachers drive home the concepts of honesty and loyalty on a daily basis.
4) You Can Become Anything
We have heard this so many times that it has become a cliché, but it is true, oh boy is it true. This is a valuable lesson that teachers must never stop teaching. As adults, we know that it is nearly impossible to break a generational rut. However, we should never give up hope that we can reach students and help them break a cycle that has held other family members back for many generations. It will no longer be called a generational rut, but generational wealth! It is our basic duty to provide hope and belief that the students can achieve and become anything they want to on planet earth.
5) Bad Decisions Lead to Serious Consequences
Not every poor decision will lead to a bad consequence, but some of them will. You may get away with something once or twice, but you will eventually be caught. Decision making is a critical life lesson. Students should be taught to think each decision through, never make a decision in haste, and be prepared to live with the consequences associated with that decision.
6) Good Decisions Lead to Prosperity
Making smart decisions is critical to individual success. A series of poor decisions can quickly lead to a road of failure. Making a good decision does not necessarily mean it is the easiest decision. In some cases, it is going to be the harder decision. Students must be rewarded, recognized, and praised for good decision making as often as possible. Teachers can help make good decision making a habit that will follow students throughout their life.
7) Mistakes Provide Valuable Learning Opportunities
Nobody is perfect, at all. Every human being has been stressed out before, and that’s okay. The greatest lessons in life is learned by failures. It is the lessons learned from those mistakes that help make us whom we become. Teachers teach this life lesson on a daily basis. We all make mistakes, and it is a teacher’s job to ensure that their students understand what the mistake was, how to fix it, and to give them strategies to ensure that those mistakes are not repeated.
