"FOR TEACHERS & EDUCATORS"
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"Teachers who educate children
Deserve more honor than parents who merely gave birth.
For bare life is furnished by the one,
The other ensures a good life."
Aristotle --- Submitted by Claire Gavaghan --- Essex, United Kingdom
"The aim of education should be to teach the child HOW to think,
Not WHAT to think."
John Dewey --- Submitted by Jennifer Hull --- Arkansas
My favorite teacher was Miss Addleman, my first grade teacher. She was old as the hills when I had her. She'd been teaching almost 40 years and was one of the few left over from that pre WWII group who got teaching certificates with a high schooldiploma. What she didn't have in formal university training, she made up for in a world of experience.
Like the other school marms of her period, she never married...devoting her whole life to her "calling." She read to usconstantly, which I believe was, in part, one of the reasons I am a prolific reader. She also had a piano in her room which she played many times during the school day. We knew the joys of singing to learn in first grade. It was always an adventure in Miss Addleman's class.
For us girls, she had a beautiful collection of dolls stored right in her room which we were allowed to play with if wewere especially good. For the boys, there were tools, hammers, screwdriver, etc. and she allowed them tobuild simple boxes and things.
I got the only school spanking I ever received during my school days from Miss Addleman for washing my hands in the maid'ssink. She rapped my hands three times with a ruler. I was heartbroken, not because I had my hands spanked, but because I had let Miss Addleman down.
My mother was also a first grade teacher at the school I attended. Because I got to school early, Miss Addleman gave me piano lessons. To this day, I still have my little red music book with gold stars on pieces I played especially well.
I moved away from Mobile, Alabama after first grade and I never saw Miss Addleman again. I'm sure she died years ago. However, Ioften think of her, especially when I hear a magical song on the piano or read a lively children's book.
Copyright © 1999 Cynthia Hughes Lynch
"Teachers are the lamps which guide you through the night,
The shining stars that twinkle whenever you outshine them,
A hand that leads you towards the future,
An excellent mentor who never gives up on you
And a warm friend that radiates with love."
Copyright © 2000 Andrea Jie
"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory,
Or even how much you know.
It's being able to differentiate between what you do know
And what you don't."
Anatole France
"There are no greater lessons than the ones taught by your students."
Copyright © 1995 E.Park
"While I too want my children to be life-long learners,
I do not want it to take a lifetime
To learn what they normally would in 12 or 13 years."
Copyright © 1997 Gloria Hoffman
"Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"To teach is to learn, again.
People don't care how much you know,
Until they know how much you care.
Remember this when dealing with your students,
Especially with the challenging one's."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by R. Lavergne --- Ontario, Canada
"It's not what you can learn, but it's what you can teach yourself."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Ever R., Age 16 --- Florida
"I guess you can say most people look at a teacher as just some annoying person who is just there to give you homework and make a bad day worse. But for me it's a totally different story.
In my 7th grade year, things weren't exactly great. I was a very depressed 12 year old that I guess felt pretty lost. My parents didn't pick me up after school very frequently, so I would just hang around, until one day when I met this teacher, Miss Namrehs.
After a few weeks of hanging around in her classroom, I felt like I could tell her almost anything, because I pretty much didn't have anyone else to talk to. Best of all she was always willing to listen.
Before I met Miss Namrehs, yes I did do some stupid things to myself and had a very tough time at home. When I talked to her, things just seemed a lot easier and she always showed concern. I thank her so much for that, because I really and truly don't know what I would've have done without that kind hearted teacher who was always there letting me in her classroom after school to talk about any problem I had.
THANK YOU Miss Namrehs!"
B.M., Age 12 --- New Jersey
"Read not to contradict and confute,
Nor to believe and take for granted...
But to weigh and consider."
Francis Bacon
"A high school diploma is an absolute minimum,
Or minimum wage will be your absolute maximum."
Copyright © 1998 Lawrence L. Josephs
"Education:
What remains after you have forgotten all that you have been taught."
Lord Halifax --- Submitted by Jennifer Yontz --- Florida
I am a Special Education Teacher and I had the pleasure of having an autistic child in my classroom this year. Patric was a fifth grader and this June, when he was promoted to the sixth grade, he surprised me with a gift which he was eager for me to open. After opening the present and seeing that it was a beautiful table clock, Patric quickly asked if I knew why he had gotten me a clock. I replied that I didn't and to that he most lovingly answered: "Because every time you look at the clock you'll know I love you all the time."
Gabriela Gallardo --- California
"Let Each Of Us Aspire To Inspire,
Before We Expire."
Copyright © 1997 Albert L. Clarke Jr.
"Learning the hard way is indeed a good teacher,
But learning from the experience of others
Is less expensive and less painful."
Copyright © 1992 Jim Lord
"Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
--- Submitted by Patricia Munang --- Sarawak, Malaysia
"No printed page,
No spoken plea,
May teach young hearts,
What men should be.
Not all the books,
On all the shelves,
But what the teachers are themselves."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Jon H. --- South Carolina
"EVERYONE plays, EVERYONE gets a turn, EVERYONE tries.
We are not here to develop just the talented, BUT EVERYONE.
We are not the minor league for athletics.
In physical education, EVERYONE WINS."
Copyright © 1980 Lisa Dorato
"Teachers have a great future in minds."
Author Unknown
"We worry about what a child will be tomorrow,
Yet forget that he is someone today."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by L.C. --- Texas
"I am graduating from high school. I am overwhelmed with emotions. This year hasbeen so amazing. I recently was honored with the Student Leadership Award, just for being me! My teachershave given me faith in myself. As I prepare myself for graduation, I still want to hold on to my teachers. Thereis just so much more I want them to teach me. Things will never be the same after June 13th.
Thank you to my yearbook teacher, Mrs. Tavenner. You saw a light in me and announced it to the world. In my yearbookyou wrote that I was your inspiration, and that I gave you a new outlook on life. You taught me that someoneis always watching the good in people.
Thank you to my English teacher, Ms. Price. Since day one you encouraged me to write what matters. You listened to me and were a shoulder to cry on when life got crazy. You taught me that it's ok for a student to love a teacher, and vice versa.
Thank you to one of the principals, Mr. Neely. I'm so grateful that there is someone like you at the top. You helped me see that theadministration may not always be right, but they're trying. I love you guys! You've taught me more this yearthan what I've learned my whole life. Thanks for making my senior year so memorable. I'll never forget you!"
Katy B., Age 17 --- California
"Teachers are precious people who cause joyful happenings
In the hearts of children."
Author Unknown
"Music is the shorthand of emotion. Emotions which let themselves be described in words with such difficulty, are directly conveyed in music, and in that is it's power and significance."
Leo Tolstoy --- Submitted by Madeline Koh Xin Ai --- Singapore
"If history were taught in the form of stories,
It would never be forgotten."
Rudyard Kipling