Some teachers are great because their passion for their subject is so intense and wholehearted that it's catching. But the sight of such devotion to a subject can convince us that that there is something in it worth loving. There are other teachers who start instead with us and sneak their teaching in by way of our own passions. They can teach even the least promising children to read by giving them books about the things they love, dinosaurs and baseball, kittens and shooting stars. They may teach us science as we raise baby hamsters, math as we build bridges for a model railroad, reading as we write stories for each other which will be printed out and bound as books.
Some teachers start by asking children what they want to know about.
Some of our teachers light candles by simply believing in us. Too many children are told all their lives what they CAN'T do, because they're too dumb, too handicapped, too uncoordinated, too disadvantaged, and when we're told that all the time, we come to believe it, to give up on ourselves. The teacher who tells us, with absolute conviction, that we are capable of mastering a difficult subject, who encourages us and makes sure we understand, lights a candle that can never be extinguished, the light not just of thought but self-respect. And some teachers work their magic by caring for us when nobody else seems to. Anyone will flower in the presence of love.