4.      Clean Slate – Since we are making you into inanimate objects, let’s add one more!  You are a tabula rasa, a clean slate.  You have not made any mistakes (that anyone knows about), you do not have any history (good or bad) with any student, parent, staff member, or administrator in your school or district.  Do you remember your first few months with your significant other?  Before any of the conflicts, the things you shouldn’t have said (“Are you gaining weight?”), or the time you tried to help out with her laundry and washed all of her clothes (whites AND darks) together in HOT water?  Yes, the “Honeymoon Period”.  Do what you can to keep the good feelings going for as long as possible.  See “How to Build Your Halo” in another section of this website.