Day 17

"The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called 'truth.'"
-Dan Rather

#np - RESPECT by Aretha Franklin

At first, today's song was going to be Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio from the movie Dangerous Minds (because we were talking about it in the lab the other day and it's been in my head ever since).  You know the one.  Michelle Pfeiffer plays a kick ass ex-marine who becomes a high school teacher in an urban school.  She starts to care about her students when one, Emilio, is cruelly ripped from her (us) by a rival gang member.  She questions her ability to keep teaching until her students show her that they still need her.  As I thought about that movie though (at 13 years old, it was my first look into a world quite unlike where I was growing up), I thought about all the great teachers I had that made an impact on me.

See, I have this friend who is an amazing teacher. She and I had our Chili's dinner date the other night and we were talking about teaching.  She was talking about how she missed the kids from her previous school and how much she loved teaching at a school where the kids needed more help.  She really found her calling at the low income,  minority school she taught at before leaving to get her masters.  Now she's back but at another school in the district and it's not the same.  She wants to be the champion for children who have few, if any, champions.  She wants to show them all that they can work hard and succeed.  

So, today's song is for her and the many like her who become teachers to make a difference...not to get summers off.  They deserve our respect.  And to Mrs. Beckman, the teacher who acknowledged and fostered my love of math as well as showed me that women can do anything (including saving to be millionaires when they retire), THANK YOU.

Oh, and hey there October, you got here fast.