I am and always will be a teacher. I found so much joy in my profession even on the very worst of days. Ultimately my students were foremost in my mind. Of course I wanted them to be proficient in mathematics but more than that I wanted them to know how deeply I cared about them and their futures. I think of them to this very day and while I may not instantly recall every single name I see their faces yearning for understanding and someone to really care about them. 

Teaching was more than just a job for me. it was a vocation and along the way I was my own worst critic. I analyzed every lesson that I presented and determined what seemed to work and what fell short. Along the way I improved my craft always with the humanity of my students as the forefront of how I worked with them. 

Eventually I became a Dean of Faculty. I witnessed teachers who were captivating and some who struggled to understand the needs of their students. Mostly I saw genuinely dedicated individuals who gave their hearts and their souls to the young people who sat before them. Only those who have experienced the world of teaching will ever fully understand how truly caring most teachers are. The students become their extended family that grows and grows the more years that they partake in the joy of spreading knowledge. With my own lifetime of being a teacher and Mama B to thousands of students a short documentary on YouTube caught my eye. It is called The Last Class which features Robert Reich teaching his last semester of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.

While I initially believed that the film would feature the ideas of Robert Reich it soon became apparent that it was more of a tribute to his time as a teacher and the philosophies of education that defined his style of inspiring young men and women to think. Rather that expecting them to regurgitate facts Reich challenged them to study and understand how to define their own beliefs. His was a class in truly critical thinking about how and why each of us view the world. 

More than anything the film emphasized the joy that teaching brought to Robert Reich and his students over the course of forty years at many different universities. For Professor Reich teaching was as much a part of his being as breathing and even though he will no longer be formally in that business, he knows that he must continue spreading information and insights for the rest of his life. Teachers retire from the day to day presence in a certain classroom but not from the vocation that seems to almost define them. 

I greatly enjoyed the film and hung on Reich’s every word about his profession and his students. It was as though he was speaking for me in a way of understanding what it means to teach that those who have never stood before a group of students will never fully understand. My emotions rose to the surface as he expressed his love for his students and spoke of the difficulty in actually hanging up his hat and officially retiring. I too have felt those same feelings and as of this moment have been unable to fully refrain from working with young students. 

From the time that I worked my last day in a school until this moment I have tutored and worked with homeschooled children. Over time my responsibilities and energy forced me to cut down the number of hours each week that I reserved for the young people who were in a sense my last students. Now in the coming year I will be down to three youngsters and maybe a couple of students who need tutoring. Part of me wants to recruit new students and part of me knows that as I move toward my eighties I am not as hardy as I once was and I tire more easily. Nonetheless being with students invigorates me like no other activity. 

I began my career in the long ago with a rather challenging schedule. I look back and wonder if I gave the best of myself to my first students. I was experimenting with them and they were lovely enough to go along with me. Over time I became better and better but still had the sense that I might have done even more. I think of the students whose hearts I touched and those that I fear I did not reach. I love them all, even the ones who tested my patience. 

I remember one particular moment when one of my favorite students was discovered to be the thief of computers and possessions of other students. As he confessed he broke down in tears and asked if I hated him for his crimes. I told him that I only hated what he had done but would always love him and hope that he had learned enough to turn his life around. I felt that way about every young person who ever sat looking at me as I tried to help them make sense of mathematics and the world around them. They were my children and all I ever wished for them is that they develop the ability to navigate life with critical thinking and a way of using knowledge for the betterment of the world. 

I agree with Robert Reich that teaching is a noble profession and one that burrows into our hearts such that we never really give it up. It is a truism that only those who can, teach!