Why Teach?

ODU Alumni Teacher of the Year Recognition & Forum

Teaching: You've Thought About It... Now Do It!

Teaching can be one of the most challenging career paths, but it's also among the most satisfying. If you have the passion to become an educator, we can show you how. 

After 25 years, I still get butterflies every fall for my new kids."

- Robyn Gunther

Teacher with Students

 

A Poem

By Marti Drummond-Dale, Educator, Leader, and Mentor

I teach because I believe in

the curiosity,

the awe, the wonder,

the dignity, the worth,

the truth, the potential, and

the joyfulness

that I find in my students.

I teach to

inspire and be inspired,

encourage and be encouraged,

understand and be understood,

make a difference and to learn.

I teach because my students believe that I will

respect their lives,

give them what they need, and

ask them to reach beyond the now and see their futures.

I teach because my students believe in me and I believe in them

to do anything,

to create anything,

to become anything they dream.

I teach because I matter.

I teach because they matter.

"In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught."

-- Baba Dioum, 1968