Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Teachers make a difference

This is long but I am not one to post much. I think as I finish out the year I need to post this email I sent to a friend in education that is leaving the profession. They, like a lot of teachers, were questioning whether or not they made a difference. This is what I sent to them:


That is untrue! Here, maybe you know this story, or maybe not. So, I will tell you why you should have faith that you have made an impact.


The Boy and the Starfish
...
A man was walking along a deserted beach at sunset. As he walked he could see a young boy in the distance, as he drew nearer he noticed that the boy kept bending down, picking something up and throwing it into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things into the ocean.


As the man approached even closer, he was able to see that the boy was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time he was throwing them back into the water.


The man asked the boy what he was doing, the boy replied, "I am throwing these washed up starfish back into the ocean, or else they will die through lack of oxygen.


"But", said the man, "You can't possibly save them all, there are thousands on this beach, and this must be happening on hundreds of beaches along the coast. You can't possibly make a difference."


The boy looked down frowning for a moment; then bent down to pick up another starfish, smiling as he threw it back into the sea. He replied,


" I made a Huge difference to that one!" Auhor Unknown~


" I made a Huge difference to that one!" As teachers, we work day after day to do what we know is best for our kids. There are times it is hard and days where the average person may have given up. We see the masses of kids where it seems that there are too many to help or too many have an impact . . . .too many that show no sign that it matters what we do. That is far from the truth! The starfish are unable to tell that boy what impact he had on them -they live in a different world and a different time. But, the boy has faith that he did make a difference. Sometimes as a teacher we keep at it even though there are times and long stretches that it seems like we are not making much of a difference at all, but that is not true. Students are like the starfish and they just don't have the ability or they realize latter on in life what we meant to them. Honestly, sometimes they just don't know how to express themselves. We just have faith that we do and that is why we come to work everyday. 

So to all my fellow teachers, you have made a difference. They may not be able to tell you but have faith. You did make a difference!

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