Student Becomes the Teacher

Thirst for Knowledge

The Student Becomes the Teacher

            As a teacher, I seldom discover if what I do on a daily basis has any kind of positive impact on my students.  Imagine my surprise yesterday when two students visited me, both filled with a hunger for answers.  They were intrigued with my teaching style since they want to be English teachers.  They were on a quest to discover if diversity actually existed. 

Yes, by day I teach English to second language learners and by night I roam the dark corridors of horror.  I was impressed by the two high school seniors’ command of the language as they both were native speakers of English.  While trying to satiate their thirst for knowledge, we discovered similarities in spite of our obvious generation gap.  When approached by students with a real interest in learning, the passion for what I do oozes out of my pores.  A great benefit for me is that I am a published author so I can really help these students. 

So while I had fun giving them a glimpse into some of my past classes, I never expected one of them would go the extra mile.  It turns out they both are avid readers, but one young lady actually has her own blog.  http://yaniiluxuria.blogspot.com/2011/03/escaping-reality.html  (Yep! Follow this young talent! You won’t regret it.)

Yanii surprised me big time with the sheer talent she possesses.  Read her poem titled “A Piece of Her” and you’ll see for yourself how much promise this young lady shows. 

I’d like to officially take this time to thank her for her kind words.  We teachers tend to get taken for granted and sometimes our jobs can be stressful since we’d like all of our students to succeed.  This year I’d say 25 % of my students take their studies seriously.  That’s why their visit not only brightened my day, but my whole school year as well.  While I regret not being able to teach them this year for fate had other plans, I am grateful for having met these two young ladies.  Although I haven’t taught them, Yanii managed to teach me that being a writer and a teacher is one of the coolest things I can be.  I see it clearly now because she’s a writer and a student.  She’s a 4.0 student with a vast array of talents in music and art as well.  Yep, she’s a pretty cool cat herself.  I’d say her future students will be in good hands when she becomes the teacher. 

Thank you ladies for reigniting my spark to keep doing what I do. 

Catch you around school life and the dark corridors of writing.

Nomar Knight