Last spring I took CI 245. It’s a class focusing on classroom management and lesson plans. That isn’t why I loved it though.

 I loved it because my teacher was one of the most supportive, knowledgeable, caring, fun teachers. People say, “You don’t get that in teachers at big universities,” but oh no, I definitely did. She is such a role model to me as I continue into the field of education. She didn’t just share her successes and high points of teaching, but she also shared her lowest points and failures. I loved this about her because it taught me that it is okay to mess up. Teaching and life is hard. We are all going to make mistakes.

 In her final thoughts on the last day, she had our class calculate the number of students we would touch the lives of throughout our teaching careers.

 There were 24 students in our class, and if we each thought for roughly 42 years, and had 20 students in our class then…

 (24 times 42 times 20)

 20,160.

 20,160 students. Wow.

 She started crying. I started crying. My class started crying. She went on to express how much she loved us, is proud of us, is excited for us, and going to miss this class.

 Point is, we all get the chance to make a big impact. HUGE in fact. I don’t mean this in regarding to the size of group or number of lives we get to impact. That number could have came out to be way smaller and it still would give me a reason to be purposeful in the ways I am impacting lives. Whether you get the chance to impact 20,000 lives or 2 lives, you get the opportunity to leave a HUGE impact on someone in this world. GET EXCITED FOR THIS! What are you doing now to prepare for this? How are you treating people everyday?

 Be that positive light, that positive influence, that supportive role model. Just how my teacher did to me.