Education is GREAT!!! Students are GREAT!!! Teachers are GREAT!!!

This page is meant to be a tribute to all educators everywhere. I have been in education, both as a High School English teacher and as a Middle-High School Principal for over 30 years. I LOVED IT!! I am firmly convinced one is somewhat "born to be an educator". No one belongs in a classroom that does not LOVE kids, does not LOVE the subject matter, and does not LOVE wanting to "spread the word".

Excellence in teaching does not have a much do the "way" you teach. Using the most modern methods is not the answer either. Showing the students that you adore what you teach and that it is important is THE key to good teaching. Once a group of students senses YOUR love for your subject matter, they WILL listen, WILL participate, and, yes, WILL do homework!!! I was the kind of teacher that was so prepared that when I had to be absent due to major surgery, the entire rest of the year was scheduled, with plans done, so that a stranger could stay on track and teach my students what I KNEW THEY NEEDED TO KNOW! However, one of the best teachers I have known, taught with hunks of white note pad sticking out of her anthology! Any Principal who would not have taken the time to watch her and see how tremendous she was, would have been horrified! The students adored her and she was loved and respected by all who knew her as an educator. There was not a senior that came out of her class that did not know all about Shakespeare and love it! I never heard a bad word about her and the kids KNEW they learned.

What about discipline and horror stories of student behavior in the classroom? Students, who are not kept on target, busy, and working in a classroom WILL act up. If students know you are just wasting time and filling in forty minutes of class time, they will waste your time and make life unbearable. When they realize that NOTHING is going to go on in your room except LEARNING, they listen, learn, participate and LIKE IT!! Students are not horrible teens who want to disrupt everything, but when there is no respect and no learning, they will be typical kids and "play games". Students, who know they will be held accountable for the classroom material LISTEN, not raise the dickens! Any teacher who allows that nonsense is doing something terribly wrong and is being terribly unfair to wonderful, young minds. My students always knew I did not have the time or patience to be writing out discipline slips and sending kids to the office. I was there to teach and they were there to learn---and LEARN WE DID!

Can you have fun in the classroom? You bet you can!! I laughed, acted, cajoled, teased, and joked, all as a method of getting their attention, keeping their attention, and letting them know I LOVED THEM and wanted their education to be SUPERB.There were times when a student would make an exceptionally astute and humorous remark and I would be in stitches right along with the class. But they always knew when it was time to get back to the business of learning and exploring.

I have often wished the computer had come along many years before it did. What a wondrous thing for students. There are so many options for students today in terms of research that just have not always been available. However, that did not preclude learning to do research papers from the ground up, typed, bound and totally presentable. That was not their favorite time of year, for the most part, but they always came back, after the Freshman year at college, saying: "Thanks so much for forcing us; we knew more than the other students about term papers and literature." Those are the times a teacher's heart smiles warmly!

One of the loveliest times for me was being asked to speak at High School graduation for a class I adored. I had had these students both as and and was thrilled to be chosen. Another wonderful time for me was after a serious illness, and being on a cane for six months, I was told by my students that I would dance at the prom with them. With my students' help and encouragement, I had gotten rid of the cane. To dance was a tremendous treat! At one point I was nominated for WHO'S WHO AMONG AMERICAN TEACHERS. The honor was tremendous, because a student nominated me. That meant the world to me and I will always treasure that honor! Students are wondrous creatures! I love them!

Are all students the same? NO, NO, NO, thank goodness!! Every fall, I faced a class made up of many different minds, beliefs, ideas, religions, parents, backgrounds. Some were the "jocks"; some were the "bookworms"; some were the "wild ones"; some were the "straight arrows". That's what made it all so wonderful. Imagine all the fantastic literary discussions that evolved from the wonderful mix before me each year. What fun it was to show them how ideas we were discussing were the same ideas of hundreds of years ago---just in a different format. Justice is justice; human tragedy is human tragedy; love is love; family values are family values--it is so fulfilling!

One very vital part of every student's success is parental support. With the parent working in conjunction with the school, teachers and their students, there is no end to the progress that can be made. In the many years, I have dealt with all of this, there has never been a case where things did not improve when the parent showed support for the school and the teacher. Students need so badly to respect education and educators, but will not do so without seeing that modeled in the home. I very much hope that teachers will continue to earn and gain the respect which they so richly deserve. Teachers are with our children more hours a day than are parents. Help them do a very difficult job----love and honor and teach all students!***