There are teachers who present the facts well enough to provide students with new knowledge. There are teachers who touch the hearts of students helping them to become the persons they were meant to be. There are teachers who make learning exciting and meaningful while also helping students feel good about themselves. It is often difficult to measure which of these three types of educators have the most impact on the young people who enter their classrooms. There is no single test score that accurately defines a world class teacher. It is in the future success of individual students that the true evaluation becomes clear.
Each of us have no doubt encountered one or more teachers who impacted our growth as individuals in a way that ultimately set us on a positive course in life. The reasons for that are many but there is a kind of magic in a teacher who provides us with a thirst for more knowledge as well as understanding and encouraging who we are as humans.
I can name several critical junctures in my educational life that enlivened my curiosity and my confidence. The first came when I was a frightened five year old starting school in a kind of fog. I wanted to go home to the comfort of my family more than anything. Every aspect of being in a classroom was frightening to me but my teacher, a nun named Sister Camilla, took the time to comfort me. She eased me into the learning process and took note of difficulties that I was experiencing. She showed me how to overcome the slight case of dyslexia that I had. She did it all with kindness and brilliance. I learned with her guidance and gained the confidence that I needed to continue through the rest of my academic life.
The next person was my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Loisey, who seemed to be adept at working with adolescents with a mix of humor and understanding. She impressed me greatly with her calm demeanor and her ability to explain even difficult concepts with clarity. I felt happy and relaxed in her care. Somehow I knew that she was both brilliant and kind at one and the same time. Being in her classroom was quite lovely.
Later I would enter the classroom of a masterful teacher of English, Father Shane, who introduced me to the idea of becoming a citizen of the world. He opened my mind like nobody other than my father had ever done. He introduced me to art, music, theater, literature, grammar and the art of writing. Even as he heaped more assignments than it seemed possible to fulfill I hung on his every word and felt that I had been introduced to a whole new way of thinking. My success in college was directly related to the ways he developed my talents and my confidence.
I went on the enjoy college professors who undertook the task of fashioning me into a teacher able to address the delivery of both knowledge and encouragement to my students. I realized that educating young people was a multifaceted task that would bring me days of frustration and times of great joy. Working successfully on a day to day basis with young people cannot be achieved with a script or a pre-designed curriculum. Every minute of every single day requires adapting to the needs of each individual sitting in the classroom.
I saw that I had to first know my students before I would be capable of reaching them. Droning on without considering the differing ways that they learned of the difficulties that they needed to overcome was impossible. I had to dive deeply into my understanding of them and most of all I had to deliver a clear message about how much I truly cared about them. They each burrowed into my heart and once they understood that I was there for them the learning commenced.
Eventually I became a teacher coach and mentor. I appreciated the monumental efforts that I witnessed unfolding in each classroom. I saw many different styles of getting a point across. I viscerally felt the intensity of caring that the teachers provided for their students day after day. I only witnessed a handful of individuals who seemed to be unable to adapt to the sometimes grueling task of moving students through a packed curriculum while also nurturing their emotional needs. I listened to their frustrations and comforted their tears and in virtually every classroom I felt their dedication even as society was not always kind to them. They came back to their jobs year after year because when all was said and done they felt an almost spiritual calling to be the guiding forces of future generations.
Teachers work for less pay than most of their peers. They are all too often underestimated and accused of somehow being less important and less intelligent than those who work in other fields. They depend on the decisions of politicians who often know little about maintaining a classroom full of students. People unfamiliar with what they do often decide on their pay and even the content what they will teach. Teachers are a convenient whipping post for disgruntled parents or business people or politicians. It is often claimed that they do not produce financial gain but instead take from the treasury. All too often their impact on the future is not understood. With all of the negativity swirling around them they still choose to come back year after year, not because they cannot do anything else, but because they understand and love the assignment they have been given.
It would be difficult to find a harder working more caring group of individuals than teachers. Theirs is one of the most difficult tasks in society and they take it on because they are deeply compelled to encourage the upcoming generations to reach for the stars.
