Book 2: What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali
Teacher. Writer. Poet. Teacher-Supporter. Motivational Speaker. Taylor Mali.
Before you read any further,
click here to visit Mali performing his poem, "What Teachers Make" (which he's also used for the title of his book that I'm reviewing).
Scroll down to read the poem.
Well, what do you think? Did it move you? Frighten you? Encourage you? Anger you?
It should have.
I first saw this same video during the Educational Psychology class I took in college. I was stunned, silent, had tears in my eyes and goose bump pimples covering my body. I
never in my life had seen anything so beautiful and honest.
Here's the full title of his book:
What Teachers Make: In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World. I'm a teacher. I think,
Wow. Someone is praising the very thing that I wake up to do every single day. Awesome! In his book, Mali goes through his poem in great detail almost line-for-line.
Mali explains why he never lets his students leave his classroom for
any reason. (He expects students to push themself to stay in the lesson for the entire period.)
Mali explains that he never accepts anything less than a student's very best...ever!
Mali explains why teachers are underpaid and where the best teachers are needed and why students will work their hardest for you if you simply love them.
This guy knows what he's talking about. READ THIS BOOK.
What Teachers Make
by Taylor Mali
He says the problem with teachers is
What’s a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life
was to become a teacher?
He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true
what they say about teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.
I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the dinner guests
that it’s also true what they say about lawyers.
Because we’re eating, after all, and this is polite conversation.
I mean, you’re a teacher, Taylor.
Be honest. What do you make?
And I wish he hadn’t done that— asked me to be honest—
because, you see, I have this policy about honesty and ass-‐kicking:
if you ask for it, then I have to let you have it.
You want to know what I make?
I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor
and an A-‐ feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time
with anything less than your very best.
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence.
No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won’t I let you go to the bathroom?
Because you’re bored.
And you don’t really have to go to the bathroom, do you?
I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
Hi. This is Mr. Mali. I hope I haven’t called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something your son said today.
To the biggest bully in the grade, he said,
“Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don’t you?
It’s no big deal.”
And that was noblest act of courage I have ever seen.
I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.
You want to know what I make? I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write.
I make them read, read, read.
I make them spell
definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math
and hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you’ve got
this,
then you follow
this,
and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them
this.
Here, let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
Teachers make a goddamn difference! Now what about you?
[Borrowed from www.TaylorMali.com]
