Be inspired by this animated poem "Keepers of the Flame," written by Paul Reynolds, artwork by Peter Reynolds, narration by Chester Gregory, and produced by "FableVision Studios" as a tribute to teachers and their role in nurturing the learning spirit in every child. It ends with a quote from William Butler Yeats: "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
Teachers provide the power of education to today's youth, thereby giving them the possibility for a better future. Teachers simplify the complex, and make abstract concepts accessible to students. Teachers also expose children to ideas and topics that they might otherwise not have come into contact with.
It would be impossible to overstate the importance of teachers in your child’s life. They play a critical role in influencing your child’s personality and in shaping their future. They provide them with a solid educational foundation and the encouragement they need to persevere and succeed in their endeavors. By being there to steer them in the right direction, teachers make it possible for your children to become useful and productive members of society.
TEACHERS CHANGE LIVES FOR THE BETTER
Teachers play a major role in motivating students and helping build their self-esteem, especially during their most impressionable years. They provide children with a support system and encourage them to set and work toward goals. By inspiring them to dream bigger, teachers show students that they have the capacity to change their lives by their own efforts and also make a difference in the lives of those that they come in contact with.
Educators also focused on identifying what challenges and interests children so that they can encourage kids to put in more effort in their work, to do better in their studies, to learn new things, and to think critically about the things that they learn. Teachers have faith in their students, help turn a failure into an opportunity to try again, and assist them in their personal and academic struggles.
TEACHERS ACT AS ROLE MODELS
Children learn by example from the people around them, and if they have positive role models early in life, they are more likely to mimic the good behaviors they observe. By holding themselves up to a high behavioral standard, teachers serve as positive influences in their students’ lives.
They do so by treating others with kindness, fairness, compassion, and consideration. Teachers also foster an attitude of cooperation and sharing with others by collaborating with teachers and other educators at the school. When teachers are able to fix mistakes made during a lesson or apologize, they encourage students to make an effort to learn, improve, and hold themselves accountable for the standard of their work.
In addition to good behavior, when teachers share their passion for different subjects, topics, or interests, students can also learn how to explore their interests and communicate that to others.
TEACHERS INFLUENCE AND SHAPE SOCIETY
Through traditional classes and extracurricular learning such as art, music, dance, drama, public speaking, and sports, teachers help children to become more creative, self-reliant, and resilient. Discerning teachers take the time to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each child under their care and guide them to improve their characters, push their limits, and become better and more optimistic human beings.
They provide them with the foundation they need to have well-adjusted personal lives and to make useful contributions to the society they live in. They enable them to form their own opinions, influence others, and have a positive impact on shaping the future of their world. As teachers influence and shape the personalities of the future members of society, they eventually become responsible for how future generations evolve.
Below Transcript Written by Leonard Bernstein Original CBS Television Network Broadcast Date: 29 November 1963
LEONARD BERNSTEIN:
"My dear young friends: You may think it strange that I have chosen to open this new season with the subject of teachers. After all, aren't these programs always about music? And what have teachers got to do with music? The answer is: everything. We can all think of a self-taught painter or writer, but it is almost impossible to imagine a professional musician who doesn't owe something to one teacher or another. The trouble is that we don't always realize how important teachers are, in music or in anything else. Teaching is probably the noblest profession in the world — the most unselfish, difficult, and honorable profession. It is also the most unappreciated, underrated, underpaid, and underpraised profession in the world.
And so today we are going to praise teachers. And the best way I can think of for me to do this is by paying tribute to some of my own teachers, who, over the last 30 years, have given me so much musical joy and inspiration.
I want to begin with a teacher who is still one of the strongest influences in my life, even though he has been dead now for 12 years — Serge Koussevitzky. I am not sure how many of you young people know that famous name, but you ought to. He was one of the greatest conductors of all time, and for 25 years led the magnificent Boston Symphony Orchestra to a position where it was known as the finest orchestra in the world.
On top of that, he created the famous summer school at Tanglewood, known as The Berkshire Music Center; and it was there, in 1940, that I was lucky enough to become his pupil, and eventually his close friend. I would like to start our music today with a tribute to his memory. Koussevitzky was a Russian, and he dearly loved Russian music. So we are going to play a Russian piece that was a great favorite of his: The lovely, quiet prelude to Mussorgsky's opera Khovanshchina. That's a long name, but it's a very short piece; it describes the sunrise on the Moscow River; everything still and sleepy, interrupted only by the occasional crowing of roosters, and the booming of bells from the Moscow steeples. When Koussevitzky played this music he managed to produce an almost magic spell, which we, his students, still remember in our ears; and his performance remains a model we can strive all our lives to equal. Here is the Prelude to Mossorgsky's opera Khovanshchina.
I wish you could all have heard that beautiful little piece played by Koussevitzky. And the same magic he brought to it he brought to everything he did, especially to his teaching. He got through to his pupils by simply inspiring them. He taught everything through feeling, through instinct and emotion. Even the purely mechanical matter of beating time, of conducting four beats in a bar, became an emotional experience, not a mathematical one. I can hear his voice now, showing me how he wanted me to beat a slow tempo of four beats, smoothly, or as musicians say, legato. "Von-end-two-end-tri-end-four-end.... It most be vorm, vorm like de sonn!"
It was always a question of what happened between the beats; how the music moved from one beat to the next: Von-end-two-end-tri-end-four-end...; and the beats came to life. It became an exciting experience just to beat time.
You see, teaching is not just a dry business of scales and exercises; a great teacher is one who can light a spark in you, the spark that sets you on fire with enthusiasm for music, or for whatever you are studying. You can study the history of the Civil War for a year, memorizing battles and generals and dates and places; but if you don't care about the Civil War you'll wind up not knowing a bloody thing about it;
But if you're lucky enough to have a teacher who makes that war part of your life, part of your country and your past — then you can drink in whole gallons of dates and names and places, and never forget them, because you learned them out of enthusiasm. Koussevitzky was such a teacher. He lit those sparks. I wish he were here with us today. But we are privileged in having with us his gracious wife, who is, in her own way, just as inspiring as he was."
We PARTNER WITH TEACHERS TO IMPROVE YOUR CHILD’S LIFE
Parents and teachers generally have a common goal to make a positive difference in the lives of the children in their care. By partnering with your child’s teachers, you can take a more active role in your child’s education, become more aware of what is going on in their lives, and find out what you need to do to assist and guide them to do better.
Work with the teachers to plan effective learning strategies that can boost your child’s self-esteem and confidence and develop their educational abilities. Here are a few ideas to consider for a parent-teacher partnership:
Share relevant information about your student. Let teachers know about your child’s temperament, habits, daily routines, and what is happening at home and school, especially if the child appears to be struggling socially or with assignments. You can collaborate on ways to help them develop stronger relationships with their peers and overcome the challenges with their schoolwork.
Find out what your child is good at. Identify which subjects your child excels in and in which they don’t, then talk to your child’s teachers about the possibility of adopting different learning approaches to help them better understand difficult concepts.
Discuss your child’s interests with teachers. With this information, teachers may be able to incorporate these interests in their lessons to grab their attention and make the topics more appealing.
Discover what you can do at home. Ask your child’s teachers what learning strategies, activities, and projects you can implement at home to boost your child’s skills and help them to become a better and more outgoing student at school.
Show your support. Let your child know that you and their teachers support them in their learning endeavors and that you expect them to make dedicated efforts to improve.
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