Dear Future Students,
You’ve been taught to raise your hand. You’ve been taught to sit quietly in a seat and listen. Many of your minds have been molded into the same shape. You’ve been told multiple times you’re doing something the wrong way or you’ve had to change the way you think. Sometimes this is good, but sometimes it’s just too much. It sheds you of your realness and your individuality.
I want you to know that when you come into my classroom, you are coming into a world of freedom – a place to share your thoughts and not be judged. You’re coming into a place where we want different ways to think about things. The first thing you’ll do when you come into my classroom is close your eyes and feel. You need to feel every emotion, every experience, everything from the sun against your face to the cold rain that dampens your hair. And you will write about it. You will take those feelings and transfer them into beautiful words. We will read them and appreciate how different everyone’s thoughts are – how differently everyone feels.
I am not here to put you down, I am here to watch you grow and succeed. You will never, ever hear me tell you the word no. The mind is a beautiful thing and it should be appreciated for all it has to offer. You are accepted into my classroom along with your ideas. And NOBODY is smarter, better, or more creative than the next person. You all have something different to offer and in all those differences, there is equality.
You’re in my classroom because you have a passion. If you want to achieve your dream, I am here to help you do just that. I may be shy and keep a lot to myself, but when you give me a piece of paper and a pen, or a computer, those things I keep to myself become something extremely powerful. You have the capability to acquire that same power.
So, I am not here to fail you. I am here to help you. I am not here to degrade every idea you throw my way. I am here to learn from your different ideas and work them into our discussions. I am not here to make you feel like you are not good enough. Because you are. All of my students will always feel good enough. And if they don’t, that doesn’t mean they have to change, it means I do.
I can’t wait to meet your beautiful minds.
Sincerely,
A Very Different Teacher
