Looking back on my elementary school years, I cannot say I remember how my teachers taught me that 2+2=4 or how to locate New York state on a map. I do not recall how I learned that the Earth was round or how to write in cursive, do you? For me, the things I remember most about my past teachers was their enthusiastic personality; their ability to motivate me to reach my full potential and that incredible feeling I received knowing I made them proud.

                Up until the fourth grade, I would consider myself to be a shy student. I kept to myself, and I did my work only because I knew I had to. However when I hit the fourth grade, I was brought completely out of my shell. To this day, I give all the credit to my teacher that year. He was the kind of teacher that truly cared about the success of his students and he had the ability to make every student feel welcomed into his classroom.  He set high expectations, not to make our lives miserable, but because he honestly believed in our potential to go above and beyond. During reading period, I paid full attention while he read aloud chapters of Holes in his funny, animated voices. I listened gladly and paid attention not only because he was entertaining, but because I knew I would receive the same attention in return.

                I don’t think teachers realize how important it is to make sure every student feels seen. As a teacher, it’s important that your students view you as approachable. That boy that you know is struggling in math but doesn’t come to you for help, go to him. Spend extra time with him, make sure he understands it, and most of all make sure he knows you’re on his side.

                As an aspiring teacher, I hope to have a lasting impact on my students. I want to create strong relationships with each child, and turn them on to the world of learning. I do not want to be a forgotten teacher that teaches only material; instead I want to be a teacher that is remembered not for what I said but how I made them feel.

 -Hannah Piron, SUNY Cortland

"A teacher who can arouse a feeling for one single good action, for one single good poem, accomplishes more than he who fills our memory with rows and rows of natural objects, classified with name and form."

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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