Why Teach?

Why be a teacher? By Rick DuFour

If you believe it is important to help children and young men and women acquire the knowledge, skills, and dispositions
essential to productive and satisfying lives, then consider being a teacher.

If you burst with passion for your subject and want to share that passion with others, then consider being a teacher.

If you are committed to your own lifelong learning, to an ongoing study of the art and science of your craft, then consider being a teacher.

If you appreciate a calling in which each year offers a fresh start, new beginnings, and the opportunity to impact lives in a positive way, then consider being a teacher.

If you truly enjoy kids, if you are able to see the best in each of them, if you are willing to persist when confronted by their recalcitrance or indifference, then consider being a teacher.

If you believe that an educated citizenry is critical to the well being of the nation, then consider being a teacher.

If you feel joy in seeing students learn to believe in themselves because you helped them achieve what they felt was beyond their grasp, then consider being a teacher.

If, like Henry Adams, you understand that, as a teacher, you can affect eternity because it is impossible to tell where your influence stops, then consider being a teacher.

If you recognize that giving of yourself to others and developing others can be one of the most significant and fulfilling ways
in which to live your life, then consider being a teacher.