What do you love most about teaching?

I love the people.

I love the grind, the excitement, the gut wrenching defeat of having young people share their greatest sorrows. I love being present for that. Because I am learning to listen, rather than sit and attempt to cure.

But what I love most about teaching, is seeing the fire begin. Having students learners as designers of their own learning, and then watching them carry out their plan is what I love most about teaching. I enjoy the dialog. The push towards deadlines of meaningful projects and the rhythm of the day when engaged folks enjoy breaking through the door.

I love working with high octane professional kid magnets who “get it”. These colleagues are not whiners, they are winners. They can not tell me the exact number of their salary and often have students roaming in and out of their rooms before school, after it, during their lunch, and certainly on prep. They listen. They push, pull, scaffold, and are proximity control gurus.

I love the parents. I don’t always like them, but I do love them. They trust their school with their greatest treasure and have been more than kind to me and my family.