Four years ago on one of the last days of 8th Grade I pulled a girl out into the hallway and told her she “You should be a teacher.” It was the first and last time I have ever given career advice. There was just something special about her. She had that “thing” that “spirit” that “soul” that “mojo” that “spark” that just made her stand out. She taught me so much about how to teach, what is important in a classroom, and how to look inside of each kid. She is the kid that teachers wish they had a whole classrooms of, the kid that any parent should be proud of. She has stayed in contact with me ever since, visiting a couple of times each year. After each visit I reflect more deeply upon who I am as a teacher. She leaves me with hope, and a little more courage to continue doing what I doing in the classroom. It is one of my greatest joys as a teacher to have a student return to share with me what has been going on in their life. When she came back to visit this week I could not help thinking through the entire conversation that I hope one day my daughters grow up to be just like her. She is a magical young lady. I am so proud of her.
And…she’s going to become a teacher 
5 responses so far ↓
@ Paul
I had the privilege of hiring one of my first students I ever taught to by our school’s math teacher this year. It made me feel old but at the same time it is nice to see the children we’ve taught doing meaningful things with their lives.
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I LOVE this post!!! One disappointing thing to me is that frequently teachers encourage the students with “spirit” and “spark” to be something other than a teacher. We NEED people like the girl you describe in our profession. As educators, we need to respect our own career path enough to get great students to become great and passionate teachers.
Thanks for being the kind of educator that wants to encourage students to join us in this great career!
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This is a wonderful story. You don’t meet kids like this very often. This is the reason that I try so hard to email my past teachers and thank them genuinely for their inspiration to me. I think that every teacher needs to know someone is very thankful for them somewhere out there.
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Paul I have just discovered you blog today and I am really enjoying your posts. I have added you on twitter and i would love to do some work with blogging and our classes as I am curriculum head for our Year 8 programme here in Melb Aust. Are you working with Sue Wyatt on the blogging hallenge? Great stuff.
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Mr. Bogush-
Today, you really don’t find kids like that because they don’t care about their future as much. Because I know I don’t. And it also shows that you as a teacher don’t just worry about test and quizzes, but really get to know your students!Great post!!!!
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