About

Welcome to Ripples of Improvement- a blog about teaching: becoming a teacher, being a teacher, and getting along in the classroom.

My name is Cathy and I am interested in becoming a teacher. This blog is my way of sharing information about the topic. Ripples of Improvement covers aspects of being a teacher, as well as other topics related to teaching, such as gifts for teachers. From how to become a teacher to how to make a lesson plan, Ripples of Improvement will cover it. This way you can get a well rounded view of all the issues affecting teaching in the world of the 21st century.

How This Is Reflected In The Name Ripples of Improvement

Teachers can be a huge influence on students. The way they carry themselves and address the subject matter can be the difference between an excellent grade and a poor grade. But, teachers don’t live in a bubble, they have their own lives as well. Lives full of ups and down just like everyone else’s.

Both teachers and students go through the process of self improvement. They work to keep their cool while facing hard subjects. I, personally, had a lot of problems with math and anything related to math. Others have problems with science, or history. As we work toward being better – being a better teacher, getting better grades, being better at interacting with others – we affect the world around us. “Ripples of Improvement” is a metaphor for all of these experiences.

Everyone knows that when you drop an object into a still body of water, you create ripples. You can compare life to the still body of water, and our actions to the object dropped. The larger the object, the stronger the ripples, and the farther they will travel. Similarly, the more concerted the effort, the farther reaching the effect and implications.

Conversely, there is a concept called “Mind Like Water.” The idea is our minds are a body of water. Stress, troubling thoughts, powerful emotions, and similar experiences cause the body of water to be anything but still. Mind Like Water is then letting go of the stress and other troubles and bringing your mind back to a sense of peace and calm – like a still body of water.

I like both of these concepts very much and work to use both of them often. While this seems at odds, I feel the two concepts complement each other beautifully. For me, the idea of “Ripples of Improvement” is a way to combine these concepts into one: Strive to have a calm, still mind, but if ripples do intrude, do your best to make sure they are ripples of improvement, not ripples of turbulence.