The Power of Teachers

This weekend, I went back to my hometown for the funeral of a family friend. I saw my elementary PE teacher, my middle school art teacher, former students, former students' parents, and colleagues from my first teaching position. As I talked with people who had meant so much to me throughout my growing up and early years of teaching, I thought about the power of teachers to impact, influence, and encourage the trajectory of individual lives, families, and the community.

I grew up in a small town. The school is the center of the community - providing support, social interaction, encouragement, and a sense of safety for students and their families. My first teaching job was in the small town where I grew up. Many of the teachers who had been my teachers in school became my colleagues. I realized that teaching was a calling for these amazing teachers. They were unbelievably dedicated - not because they were paid to be, but because of their belief in the students and the future of their community. They saw limitless possibilities in their students and went above and beyond to make a difference in the lives of their students and their families. They gave countless hours before and after school without compensation to run clubs, have play rehearsal, volunteer at sporting events, or tutor students with homework.

Main Street in the small town where I grew up and began my teaching career.

When I began teaching in urban schools, I realized that there were many connections between rural and urban teaching. The most important similarity is that students, families, and the community need dedicated teachers who are willing to go above and beyond. Even if the schools that we teach in are dramatically different from those we grew up in, we must bring the same level of commitment and dedication to our students as we want from the teachers of our own children - like what I experienced in that small town.

Teachers have incredible power to impact lives and to change the outcome for so many students. I often write about the power of belief because it has been so important to me personally and I have seen it make a difference in the lives of the students I teach. If the message that we give our students is "I believe in you and I will be there for you no matter what," then they start to believe in themselves - they start to see themselves through our eyes. But that takes time and commitment. In urban schools, the trust is so thin. You must build trust with students through consistency - in terms of belief, follow through, and expectations. Too many people have already let our urban youth down - we must recognize that the power that we have to change lives can go both ways. Our words, our actions, and our messaging must always underscore that we have unconditional belief in our students' future - that is what will truly change our communities.

I love the message in this poem by Taylor Mali. He shares why he teaches - what makes him restart every day. All of the political undertones of education - APPR, Receivership, Turnaround, accountability, funding shortages, curriculum shifts, common core, or the cornucopia of letters that identify new programs and new guidelines - none of that is as important as knowing that we have the power to change lives each and every day in our classrooms. I didn't become an athlete or an artist, but I know that my elementary PE teacher and my middle school art teacher believed in me. And when I shared with them this weekend that I am now a principal of an elementary school in an urban district, I could tell that they still believed in me. That power of a teacher - powerful, powerful stuff.