What inspires you?

There is nothing more inspiring than witnessing a child’s “ah ha” moment. The moment in their eyes that they realize they can make a positive difference in the world. Moments like these remind me why I wanted to become a teacher in the first place. I may not be the teacher I originally envisioned, but I am certainly satisfied with the path I travel. To witness other people being inspired inspires me. Working with kindergartners, sometimes I wonder just how much they retain of what I say. In a single moment however, all that can change; you see the glint in their eyes…that “ah ha” moment.

I’ve experienced many of those moments now, but they never get tiresome. Each is as precious as the first. Today it happened with my new “I Care About.” Most of them remembered my first was about whales (good start, they actually remembered the first one). This time around I was going to teach them about sea otters. When I was done with the lesson, I found it fitting to ask them what they care about. This whole month their staff has been sharing the things that they care most about, but we’ve never actually asked the children what is important to them. That simple question became their “ah ha” moment. We protect the things we love, and everything we do makes a difference. We talked about the measures that we take to protect those things, and suddenly they realize, even as children, they are empowered. There are things in the world they can do that actually makes a positive impact. So often children feel that what they do or say doesn’t matter. Directly because of the program that we do, their lives have changed, and that is something I’ll never forget. That’s what inspires me; whenever I get to see someone realize they have such tremendous power to make the world a better place.

The question though is, not just what inspires me, but I want to know what inspires you?