It's there hidden deep, hidden sometimes under an uninviting surface, waiting to be brought upon into the light of day. Teaching, then, is the mining for gold and we teachers are the prospectors whose task is invite students to dig along side us as their own prospectors mining for their own pay dirt. I have discovered that if we mine students, and help students mine themselves, expecting to find a vein of gold, we both almost always will. Getting to that rich ore, however, isn't something that is done very easily. It takes sweat and effort and endurance.
Progress can be slow.
The way through the rock can be rocky. The rubble has to hauled out. The tunnel has to be shored up. There's going to be the inevitable cave-ins. At times you're battling your aching body and your strained emotions as well as the rock.