The Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program was established to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Fulbright Program --a U.S. government-initiated project created in 1946 to foster mutual understanding through exchanges of university students, faculty and researchers. I participated in the program in 1999 and spent three weeks in Japan, visiting schools, tourist sites, and attending seminars on education. While visiting with teachers at a large middle school on the west coast of Japan, I met a teacher who impressed me with her outgoing personality and obvious love of the profession. Curious about what she would say, I asked her what she thought was the single most important quality of a good teacher. She smiled and said, “Creating good memories for children.” That stuck. It is a humbling truth. Whatever we do or don’t do as teachers, we are making some type of memory for each child we serve. I guess you could say I kinda stole her saying –it is now part of my email signature; in fact, I use it wherever I can. However, I did add another truth to it –one that for me makes her words more complete: “There is nothing more fun than creating good memories for students.” ...I think she would agree.
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AuthorPatricia Hesse --working with gifted students as young as 5 and as old as 18 for the past 24 years --remarkable kids! Archives
January 2014
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