Why I Teach [A letter to my students]

To My Students-

I teach because I love books. I love talking about them, I love thinking about them. Last year was the first year I kept track of my reading, and I realized, despite working my fingers to the bone on my masters degree, that apparently I had found the time to read a little over 50 books.

I know that not everyone likes to read. I know that not everyone admires the way words on a page become a world within itself, how a character can become a friend. I know that not everyone is amazed that someone from hundreds of years ago can speak to one in a way that causes pain, or makes one think "I have felt that before". I know that most of my high schools students have made up their mind one way or the other about reading. My one wish is that, even if you don't leave my class enjoying reading, you come to see the value in it.

I hope that you see the value in reading, but mostly I hope that you see the value in life. When you get down to it, the stories and information you get in class are supposed to give you another way to understand people and why they do the things they do. They are supposed to show you why our world is shaped the way it is, and the little things we can do to shape it the way we want it to be. Last year I lost a former student in Kansas City to a drive-by shooting and a friend to suicide. I don't like the way the world is shaped; I don't like the violence and hate and racism I see and their effect on our future. I think that education, and reading in particular, can help people escape those situations, literally and figuratively. Every time I teach a book, I hope that book sparks the idea that you are worthwhile- that you deserve the best and should work your butt off to get it. That there are things to do and places to be. I want you to think. Even if you hate books, you deserve love and acceptance. You deserve to tell your story and have it valued.

Johnny, my friend who committed suicide in 2015