"Teachers usually have no way of knowing that they have made a difference in a child's life, even when they have made a dramatic one. But for children who are used to thinking of them selves as stupid or not worth talking to or deserving rape and beatings, a good teacher can provide an astonishing revelation. A good teacher can give a child at least a chance to feel, "She thinks I"m worth something. Maybe I am." Good teachers put snags in the river of children passing by, and over the years, they redirect hundreds of lives. Many people find it easy to imagine unseen webs of malevolent conspiracy in the world and they are not always wrong. But there is also an innocence that conspires to hold humanity together, and it is made of people who can never fully know the good that they have done.".
Anyone looking for insight into what makes a good teacher would greatly appreciate reading Tracy Kidder's Among Schoolchildren. This passage from the book exemplifies the importance of a role that a teacher plays in a child's life. Teachers have the ability to improve a child's life without even realizing it - a refreshing revelation for both new and old teachers who may often wonder if they have ever made a difference.
Reading Among Schoolchildren one encounters a school year in the life of a fifth grade teacher, Miss Chris Zajac, and her fifth grade class, observed by the author, Tracy Kidder. The setting is in a low socio-economic class neighborhood in Holyoke, Massachusetts, a town consisting of a high population of people of Puerto Rican descent. Miss Zajac's class is made up of about twenty students, most of whom are Puerto Rican, low-income students, many of whom have been abused, neglected, or have emotional difficulties. Kidder portrays Miss Zajac as a charming yet tough, fair, and dedicated teacher. Among Schoolchildren focuses on a particular group of students, especially those that give Miss Zajac the most trouble or the ones that she finds difficult to deal with; it also tells of the children who are the brightest in her classroom.