Share the Dream, Live the Reality

I believe that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential, inspirational, and phenomenal people that ever lived!  I have been in awe of him and his beliefs since I was a young child, and I try to live by his words and to impart his wisdom and beliefs to my students. I am a different kind of teacher, in that I want my students to gain an understanding of the word RESPECT, no matter what.  I sometimes feel like it is my responsibility to teach respect and not math because people will go farther in life knowing how to respect themselves and others, rather than knowing how to divide fractions.  I am a firm believer in that once you can respect yourself and others, all things will fall into place, especially for the "population" of students that I teach.  I need them to understand that they are worth something and that once they see that and feel that, they will value education, and want to be successful in school.  Respect can lead to a life of success with morals and values; two things that are so incredibly important in our lives today especially.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a great human being and I have the utmost respect for this man.  I believe that all people should strive to find the good in people and that we should live our lives to look out for the "little" people, the less fortunate, the underdog!  I may be preaching here a little, but I feel very passionate about respect.  In light of recent events in my own life professionally, I feel that I have lost some perspective on the respect thing, so I am writing this for myself.  I may have students who have not been taught respect in the home, and so it becomes my job to give them the best gift of all...  RESPECT for self and others.  I need to continually remind myself of this and know that I am doing the best that I can, but I need to make sure that I continue to give to my students what I want from them!

Thanks MLK!