Teaching Is Like Opening a Present

 Children are all different.  They come in all sizes, shapes and colors - large and small, boisterous and quiet, happy and sad, in stylish new clothes and hand-me-downs from siblings or from the thrift store.  Girls and boys enter the classroom as individual mysteries to be carefully opened and explored.  Teachers are given the privilege and the responsibility of finding the person inside each package - without damaging the contents or the wrapper.  Put away the scissors.  This task requires a gentle touch.

To unwrap these mysteries a teacher must first gain the trust of each student.  This is perhaps best accomplished by sharing one’s own story with the children.  The teacher must show love, concern and approachability.  This gives the children permission to share their own stories and encourages them to do so.  This is the same way people of any age make friends.
 

With the packages thus opened the teacher can begin to explore the children’s culture, hopes, dreams, strengths, abilities, and values.  He can teach them the skills necessary to make decisions about what is valuable and good and the skills they need to navigate through life.  Then he can spread the wonders of the world before them.  The children select (learn) what they choose from the wonders and add it to their packages.  

At the end of each school year a teacher says goodbye to the precious packages and passes them along to the next teacher.  Teachers are truly blessed to receive so many gifts.