Teachers are powerful.
Think back to your favorite teacher. I have many, but my absolute favorite is Mrs. Fran Bradely. She was my first teacher ever, and I remember many things about kindergarten, like our teddy bear picnic and singing songs at our Christmas program. She made school fun. I would come home and play school until it was time for supper. I told anybody that asked that I was going to be a teacher when I grew up.
And then the time came to make a decision about college and a career path, and all of a sudden I felt nervous. That's a huge decision to make, and I didn't want to make the wrong one. I quietly cried myself to sleep a few times worrying about that decision and leaving home, even though I told my parents I couldn't wait to go to college. Did I really want to be a teacher? They didn't make squat and they had to give all these assessments. I wasn't so sure anymore. I prayed that God would lead me in the right direction. I prayed for a "sign", like many do when they come to a fork in the road. And then, there it was. Sitting in my mailbox one day that summer. A letter from Mrs. Bradely.
As I read the letter, I learned about all of my fellow classmates from that kindergarten class in 1990. You see, Mrs. Bradely had taken the time to research what all of us were doing and where we were headed after graduation, and then found all of our addresses and mailed us the poem she wrote. She did this every single year, with every single class she taught.
And that is why I graduated with a degree in Elementary Education. Not because teachers make the big bucks, or because they get summers off, but because they can make a difference in the life of a child every single day they enter that classroom.
Teachers are powerful.
God bless the teachers of North Carolina as they start their 2014-2015 school year. I pray that God gives you the patience, time, and energy you will need, and I pray that you can touch the life of a child each and every day. Let's do this!
