Teaching Is… (giveaway)

I recently got an email from Marjan Glavic of The Busy Educator. He and his wife were visiting NYC from Ontario and wanted to know if I’d like to get together. I always love chatting with other educators, and I’ve followed Marjan’s work for many years, so this was a real honor!

We met for dinner at a fabulous little Italian restaurant in the East Village called Giano (the ravioli with mascarpone cheese was so good I could have licked the plate) and did some catching up. After appetizers, dinner, dessert, wine, and coffee, I realized a) I wouldn’t need to eat again for a week, and b) several hours had passed and I hadn’t even noticed. Marjan and his wife are both just so down to earth and easy to talk to, I could have sat there all night.

Marjan was a teacher for nearly 30 years, and has some great stories to tell about how education has changed since he started. Now in his “retirement”,  he’s pursuing consulting and professional development work on a greater scale. He’s also still publishing The Busy Educators’ Newsletter which he’s been sending out since 1998 (!!) and he’s just published his fourth book!

As we were leaving, Marjan was kind enough to give me two copies of Teaching Is…Moments That Inspire and Motivate Teachers to Make a Difference…so of course, I thought of you all and decided to give one away! As soon as he pulled the tiny, glossy-finish hardcover book out of his bag, I thought to myself, Oooh, that book would make a PERFECT gift! Apparently I also said that out loud, because Marjan smiled and said that’s exactly what he had in mind. It’s wonderful to give to new graduates, student teachers, colleagues, people who are retiring, and so on.

The book is a collection of quotes that reinforce the power of teachers to inspire, motivate, and make a difference. And like teaching itself, some quotes make you laugh out loud, others make you feel wistful, while still others make you nod in that “I wish I didn’t relate to that!” kind of way. Here are a few of my favorites:

• You can immediate understand why a student behaves a certain way after meeting his or her parents.
• That incredible, indescribable feeling of relief when the last report card is written.
• Reluctantly lending a student $1.29 in February, writing it off as a bad loan, then seeing a neatly piled stack of coins on your desk on the last day of school.
• Anxiously waiting and silently praying that the bus shows up for your end-of-year field trip.
• You can tell if it’s a full moon or if a storm is coming without ever going outside.
• Leaving school on a late Friday night exhausted, but knowing deep down that you made a difference.

Check out some more in this video from TeachingIs.com.:

Such a great concept, right?  To win an autographed copy of the book, leave a comment on this post finishing the statement “Teaching Is…” with whatever our profession means to you. The contest closes on Thursday, May 24th at midnight. I’ll send the winner’s copy out right away, so you can have it quickly if you want to give it as graduation or end-of-year gift (or a gift for anyone who has made a difference in your life). Good luck!

EDITED 5/25: THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. The winner is number 29, Kayla Golden, who said “Teaching is… making the active, conscious decision to dedicate all of your time and efforts into teaching and training the next generation.” It was so great to read all your comments–thank you!