I was going to start this post with the line, “I hate to toot my own horn but…” instead I decided to start it with, “To toot my own horn…” Sometimes, the affects of our work comes back in ways we could never imagine, and it is in these waves that we can feel reassured and confident that we are on the right track!

I received the following emails from a woman I used to wrok with at my former school. The same school from which I was forced to resign:

Hey Jabiz!

I am teaching a new elective this year, called “Be the Change.”  I recently asked students to respond to the Wiki prompt: Who inspires you, and why? This was the response from (insert name of student), currently in 8th grade:

I am going to have to go with my 3rd quarter 7th grade social studies/ language arts teacher, Mr. Raisdana. Mr. Raisdana was an amazing teacher. He really made us think about how we were learning. He taught us not the skills to join the workforce of today, but the skills needed to be a learner so we can learn to be the workforce of tomorrow however different they may be. He helped us create networks of learners through blogging. He was an activist, a supporter of global peace. Sadly, he was fired. I do not want to bring into this place any discussion of whether or not he was fired justly but I will say that I miss him. We lost a creative teacher who helped make learning fun. (After all, how many teachers do you know who keep a bowl of dried fruit on their desk for everyone to enjoy?) He encouraged us to use our brains to a fuller extent, for a project on ancient Rome, a parody of the song Beautiful Girl is acceptable. And he keeps working, even with a new full time teaching position, on is own learners network. I hope I can learn from him and am able to adopt some of his qualities in my self.

This is why I teach. Period. To get through to kids. To get them to think for themselves and question the world around them. I am sharing this because I am proud of the work I do and felt the need to spread the joy!