I received an email from a former student the other day in which he thanked me for encouraging him to return to college. Family hardship had forced him to drop out and take a job. Now he is back at school while working part-time.
Since I began teaching in a high school in Oakland, California, I have taken a personal interest in my students. In a sense, I fall in love with them. It's not a romantic love, of course, but it is a devotion. Every young person struggling to achieve an education...
I received an email from a former student the other day in which he thanked me for encouraging him to return to college. Family hardship had forced him to drop out and take a job. Now he is back at school while working part-time.
Since I began teaching in a high school in Oakland, California, I have taken a personal interest in my students. In a sense, I fall in love with them. It's not a romantic love, of course, but it is a devotion. Every young person struggling to achieve an education is precious to me, and every effort they make is rewarded by moving onto the next step of that journey. I have taught in California, New York, and England. I am now an adjunct associate professor of writing at NYU, and I have several private clients working on essays, memoirs, books, or test preparation.
Educational achievement is an effort. It takes discipline and organization as well as curiosity for new experiences and ideas. I remember when my own daughter was floundering at school, overhwelmed by the deadlines and demands of her five high school classes. I bought her a teacher's plan book where she could visually see what lay ahead. This simple tool helped her to relax and begin to enjoy her studies. Undaunted, she went on to take advanced placement tests and was accepted at an ivy league university.
Studying is both hard work and pleasurable. There is no pleasure in learning without effort, and no pleasure in studying on one's own without strong experienced mentorship.
