John Dewey's statement, "Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself," is profound. Because every child possesses a unique collection of knowledge, life experiences, beliefs, and values, teachers have the distinguished privilege--and challenge--of creating learning opportunities within a community environment that will both foster the growth of the individual child and cultivate meaningful corporate academic and social learning.
For a teacher to be successful in creating these types of opportunities, he or she must personify a number of distinctive attributes, including patience, creativity, organization, value for others' gifts and abilities, kindness, and a healthy sense of humor. While each of the attributes is a vital and necessary characteristic of dynamic teachers, one attribute is more important than any other: awareness of students' needs. Educators who are genuinely effective can identify students' needs--academic, social, emotional, physical--and create a course of action that will ultimately meet these highly personal needs. This proactive spirit is one that separates educators who teach from educators who invest in students' real educations--their lives.
As teachers wholeheartedly and intentionally invest themselves in creating a student-centered environment, students' learning will be cultivated in such a way that they develop into the effective adult leaders society longs to trust.
