There are several people in this world who can inspire children to do many things. Such people include professional athletes, celebrities, singers, Fortune 500 business owners, authors, and possibly even a politician. However, even though these people were motivated to pursue a career in different directions, they all have one thing in common. They were all guided and inspired by teachers. Whether it was a teacher of basketball, voice, acting, business, writing, or a political science teacher, all of these people were inspired by at least one educator or several teachers to get them where they are and where they are going.
Without inspiring teachers Kobe Bryant doesn’t win five NBA Championships, Katharine Hepburn doesn’t win four Best Actress Awards, Stevie Wonder doesn’t win twenty-five Grammy Awards, Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t create Facebook, Shakespeare doesn’t write Romeo and Juliet, and Barak Obama doesn’t become the first African American President of the United States. All of these people were successful in their right. However, not one of them could have been successful without at least one inspiring teacher. 99% of the time, that teacher came from a classroom somewhere along the line.
To be an inspiring teacher it takes five basic characters; (1) they’re passionate; they have a passion for education and teaching students. (2) They’re committed; they are committed to being the best teacher they can be 365 days out of the year not just the 190 that we are contracted to work. (3) They hold high expectations: inspiring teachers find ways to take students to the next level to prepare them for life beyond the classroom. (4) They’re accessible; they are always accessible and are there for their students as a helping hand whenever they are needed. And (5) Inspiring teachers deeply care about the lives and the futures of the children in which they serve. These five characteristics of an inspirational teacher assist in fostering positive student relationships. These relationships are what makes the teacher inspiring in the eyes of their students. When you develop these positive relationships, students begin to trust in you, invest in your class, go beyond what is expected of them, build a passion and excitement for learning, and commit themselves to excellence.
An inspirational teacher does not just impact the career of a student, they also instill the characteristics of an inspirational teacher in the mind, body, and soul of a student. Just like the list of people above who were inspired and continue to inspire children of today, the students who admire and are taught by an inspirational teacher, will continue the chain of inspiration when they become adults working in their desired field.
Just think about this; the average teacher works 190 days a year and works an average of 30 years in education. That means a teacher has about 5,400 days over the course of their career to inspire as many children as they can. Over those 30 years they will service on average 2,550 students give or take. If over those 30 years you only inspire 10 students, according to the definition of an inspirational teacher, and they go on to inspire 10 students/children in their career, that one single teacher will be responsible for inspiring thousands who they have never met before. Now imagine if we reached out to inspire 50 students over our career. Like Arthur William Ward once said “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great
teacher inspires.”
If you’re a teacher reading this article, challenge yourself today, tomorrow, and during the remainder of your career to inspire today’s youth. The result of all of this inspiring will equal one thing; A BETTER TOMORROW!
