Accepting both the opportunity and the responsibility evokes a great deal of humility.

Teaching is a very habit-bound endeavor. We're unsettled by the unfamiliar. We're creatures of habit too.

I have find that today's students are often more tolerant of human variance than students in earlier generations might have been. On the other hand, some of our students need much more interaction with a wide variety of peers so they level of understanding deepens and so they are prepared to live in a world that is only going to get smaller.

On some level students are essentially the same. They are people with fears and dreams. They laugh and cry over many of the same things. They share an essential humanity as young people always have.hey differ in some significant ways now, too, I believe. They are forced to grapple with complex issues at a much younger age.

In the field of education, educators know that they leave a lasting impact on their students for better or for worse. Trust is established or diminished in the classroom and very good educators understand that they are fallible. Despite their best efforts, they will not always do the best for each student.

Sometimes educators suffer from the "I already do that" syndrome. In those cases, we feel inadequate if we admit we have a distance to go as learners of our craft.

Until a teacher learns to use elements like time, space, materials, groupings, and so forth flexibly, it's incredibly difficult to teach students as they need to be taught.