Impacting a Life
I am an art teacher. I know lots of teachers. My children will have 16 teachers combined this school year. And yet, I don't think I fully realized the impact of teachers until recently. In some ways, teachers have a lot of power. They have the power to inspire, encourage, and build up; or to the power to tear down and destroy. I like to believe most teachers aspire to be a catalyst for positive change, growth, and lifelong success.
While I am a teacher. I am also a mom. My daughter is growing up before my eyes. These days the growth is less physical and more emotional and intrapersonal. She is becoming a person. A real grown up person separate from me. She has thoughts about her life and future that have nothing to do with my thoughts (I don't know about you but this came as a shock to me!). She has dreams and plans beyond the seeds I have planted in her head. Sure, I see my hand in it. I also see biology because she is rapidly becoming the 2018 version of the 1988 me. Watching her grow, mature and start walking on her own path is something to behold.
As parents, we all love to watch our kids do new things. When she was a baby she rolled over, and then walked, and then talked. We were thrilled with every new development! She has taken dance, and horse lessons, and played every sport under the sun. She has been in school now for quite some time. And while I have been feeding her mind, so have her teachers. Her elementary teachers impacted the basic building blocks of her education. They taught her how to read, study and learn. Her middle school teachers taught her to dig deeper and be inquisitive. They offered her the love of learning and discovery. She is in high school now. And, while she has to take the required math, science, social studies, and English as a part of the standard high school curriculum, and I am sure those classes are feeding her mind.....it is the other teachers who/classes that are making a real mark in my daughter's life. She is, and always has been a creative. I've known it from the moment at 3 years old she took me by the hand and told me, "Come, we have to go outside and get leaves for my art".
When she told me in 2017 that she had been thinking and wanted to be an art major in college, I kept the smirk to myself and said, "oh really?". What I meant was, I have known that for about 12 years. Then last year there was a game changer. When her schedule was posted, alongside the math, English, and art classes there was a class she didn't really want. An "alternate" elective. She was in AV and Technology. She was not happy.
Here is where the teachers come in and make a difference. A big difference. Two amazing teachers have poured into her. They have given her their support, encouragement, knowledge, and wisdom. They have shared their talents. Mostly they have given her self confidence and belief in herself. As her mom, I am forever grateful. They have changed the course of her life with their actions. Recently, as we started looking into colleges she changed her intended major from art to Film and Digital Media.
I see her blooming. Growing. Changing. I see her having confidence in her abilities to film, evaluate lighting, write news packages, shoot B roll, and come up with ideas for her own independent projects. I don't know how to do those things. She is on her own for this one. It is exciting. It is scary. It is something to behold.
While I am a teacher. I am also a mom. My daughter is growing up before my eyes. These days the growth is less physical and more emotional and intrapersonal. She is becoming a person. A real grown up person separate from me. She has thoughts about her life and future that have nothing to do with my thoughts (I don't know about you but this came as a shock to me!). She has dreams and plans beyond the seeds I have planted in her head. Sure, I see my hand in it. I also see biology because she is rapidly becoming the 2018 version of the 1988 me. Watching her grow, mature and start walking on her own path is something to behold.
As parents, we all love to watch our kids do new things. When she was a baby she rolled over, and then walked, and then talked. We were thrilled with every new development! She has taken dance, and horse lessons, and played every sport under the sun. She has been in school now for quite some time. And while I have been feeding her mind, so have her teachers. Her elementary teachers impacted the basic building blocks of her education. They taught her how to read, study and learn. Her middle school teachers taught her to dig deeper and be inquisitive. They offered her the love of learning and discovery. She is in high school now. And, while she has to take the required math, science, social studies, and English as a part of the standard high school curriculum, and I am sure those classes are feeding her mind.....it is the other teachers who/classes that are making a real mark in my daughter's life. She is, and always has been a creative. I've known it from the moment at 3 years old she took me by the hand and told me, "Come, we have to go outside and get leaves for my art".
When she told me in 2017 that she had been thinking and wanted to be an art major in college, I kept the smirk to myself and said, "oh really?". What I meant was, I have known that for about 12 years. Then last year there was a game changer. When her schedule was posted, alongside the math, English, and art classes there was a class she didn't really want. An "alternate" elective. She was in AV and Technology. She was not happy.
Here is where the teachers come in and make a difference. A big difference. Two amazing teachers have poured into her. They have given her their support, encouragement, knowledge, and wisdom. They have shared their talents. Mostly they have given her self confidence and belief in herself. As her mom, I am forever grateful. They have changed the course of her life with their actions. Recently, as we started looking into colleges she changed her intended major from art to Film and Digital Media.
I see her blooming. Growing. Changing. I see her having confidence in her abilities to film, evaluate lighting, write news packages, shoot B roll, and come up with ideas for her own independent projects. I don't know how to do those things. She is on her own for this one. It is exciting. It is scary. It is something to behold.
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