Teaching: Making a Difference

This is Robin from Class of Kinders. It is summer break for me and I was just at the beach the other day. We can do that here in Paradise, because the warm sunny beach is just a short drive away. It is a great escape from the fast paced life to reflect. Most of my trips to the beach are during the summer…when school is out for summer break. I do a bit of reflecting about the school year…thinking about the things I loved about the year and things I might do differently.

I take a book, listen to music, soak in the water and work on my tan! 

(Why is it that tanner skin always seems to help the figure?…lol.)

Sometimes, I go just for the sunset. Equally as beautiful! 

One evening when I was there, I happened upon lots of starfish washing up onto the shore.

There were literally what seemed like hundreds of them! It honestly made my heart beat faster and faster, to see them there, knowing if they did not get back into the water….

But there were just so many to rescue. 

The Starfish Story immediately popped into my head. The one where the little boy was throwing things  back into the water as a man approached him asking what he was doing. He told the man he was throwing the starfish back into the ocean that had washed up onto shore. The man laughed at the boy and basically told him he was wasting his time. He said the boy was just one person and there were so many starfish. The boy listened, but continued his work throwing them into the water. He turned to the man as he threw one starfish into the ocean saying… see, it made a difference for that one.

This is how I feel about teaching. I am the boy. And the man, well, "he" is ALL of 

"those things" that get in the way of me teaching my students.  Regardless, we should continue our work as teachers, just as the boy did, throwing the starfish back into the ocean

…making a difference in the lives of our students!

I created a copy of this Starfish Story originally written by Loren Eiseley.

You can get this copy free from my TpT store as a tribute to summer, teaching, and the students we work tirelessly for. Give it to a friend to encourage them…hang it in your classroom so you don't forget.

Enjoy your summer.

 Recharge your batteries.

And...

Continue making a difference!