Thursday, February 09, 2006

What do Teachers Make?

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminded the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." To corroborate, he said to another guest, You're a teacher, Susan," he said. "Be honest. What do you make?"

Susan, who had a reputation of honesty and frankness, replied, You want to know what I make? I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor and an A- feel like a C+ slap in the face, if the student did not do his or her very best." I can make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence. I can make parents tremble in fear when I call home."

"You want to know what I can make? I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them criticize. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them write. I make them read, read, read. I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful over and over again until they will never misspell either one of those words again. I make them show all their work in math and hide it all on their final drafts in English. I make them understand that if you have the brains, then follow your heart... and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you pay them no attention."

"You want to know what I make? I make a difference. What about you?"

3 comments:

maddie said...

that was fantastic. i'm going to pass that on to all of my teacher friends. :)

Anonymous said...

Shauna, I think that was great. I hope every teacher feels the same way and I will "definitely" pass this on. I will be sure that Amanda sees to.

Anonymous said...

I should have check my spelling before publishing my last comment. At least I got definitely right.