Teachers

  "The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you on to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth." --Dan Rather

Every moment I have with students is a crucial one.

I have the chance to inspire or cut them down,

to open eyes to potential or dim them with shortcomings,

to help them see their uniqueness or make them feel they don’t belong.

I must choose whether

to react in anger or respond with gentleness,

to raise my voice in frustration or speak with conviction and truth,

perhaps in contradiction to their belief: "You can do this. Let me help."

The teacher must decide to find a new way

if the other is not working,

and try again and again and again...

A teacher’s job is different from any other

because, in order to be effective, it requires

the teacher to get buy-in, not compliance.

Teachers are not “bosses” who can just give orders,

for students will not learn from someone they do not like

or from someone they think does not like them.

Teachers must have compassion and love

for those they teach,

and an insatiable desire to

not only fill a head with knowledge

and equip hands with skills,

but even more so,

to enlighten, to empower,

light a fire within

to learn and grow and

change the world.

That’s what teachers are for.