Rita F. Pierson: "Every Kid Needs a Champion"

I found this inspiring lecture on this link of 15 TED Talks That Will Change Your Life

Rita F. Pierson advocates making personal connections with your students to raise achievement. She talks about a group of students so "academically deficient" that she cried. But the mantra she gives them to repeat for themselves is something powerful indeed:

And I gave them a saying to say: "I am somebody. I was somebody when I came. I'll be a better somebody when I leave. I am powerful, and I am strong. I deserve the education that I get here. I have things to do, people to impress, and places to go."

That's definitely one for the classroom wall.

And they said, "Yeah!"