Teacher Offers Lesson That Lasts A Lifetime

Here is a wonderful note we received from one of our CATalyst readers that we thought was worth sharing:

Thank you for your commitment to our very existence by investing in children and families. As a teacher who believes in striving towards excellence, my students all know that I would consider a "C" grade to be unsatisfactory if it required no effort or one's best work. So imagine the look on their faces the day I walked into the classroom and announced, "Students, today I want to inspire you to strive to make "Ds!"

After a moment of utter silence, one brave soul responded, "Are you serious, are you feeling well?" "But you said!," continued another. I could tell that mental confusion was setting in. So I quickly proceeded to clarify my statement with a question.

"Children, did you think I meant that you should make Ds in class?" After bringing some relief to their discombobulated minds, I demonstrated my statement by writing the following sentence on the board. "To achieve excellence in life, one must aspire to have five Ds”.

1. Dream

2. Desire

3. Determination

4. Discipline

5. Delight

Every day, I expounded on each idea and had students give examples of how they can show each quality. The students became convinced that they were responsible for achieving excellence rather than merely surviving their classes. Over two decades later, young adults still visit me to tell how that little exercise changed their direction in life. I believe that as educators, we can turn the lights on or off for children because of our influence.

Please continue the fight even though it gets tough sometimes. In the final analysis, thousands of lives would be better because of your efforts.

Always,

Marilyn Gore
Miami-Dade County Public Schools