Teach-A-Palooza features well known educator
Michael Marquez
Posted on: 3/11/10 Section: News
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Rafe Esquith is an elementary teacher from Hobart Elementary School and has taught there for the past 29 years.
He is widely acknowledged as for his innovative way of teaching, and has multiple awards such as Disney's 1992 National Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, and The President's National Medal Of Arts.
Esquith is also a best-selling author of several books, including "Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire," "Lightning Their Fire," and "There Are No Shortcuts."
Esquith introduced early in his presentation methods that he practices himself in the classroom.
On the first day of school, Esquith's first lesson is trust. " Most classrooms are based on one emotion, fear," said Esquith. He believes that it is important that students learn to trust their teachers in order to learn efficiently.
Esquith made one thing clear to everyone in the room: that being a teacher is not easy.
"This a hard job. It will have its bad days, and it will have its good days. Good teachers, however, are stubborn. They never give up. Never. There are some days when you may plan everything and still feel at the end of the day that nothing went right. Always remember, though, that whenever you feel that you didn't reach out to your students, there is always one."
Esquith had the crowd drawn into every word, bringing laughter in the room as well as concern for today's students.
Midway through his speech, Esquith showed a video of one his former students giving an oral presentation before the U.S. Supreme Court of a love letter written during the Civil War.
The student presented the speech so well, that not only did he become emotionally drawn to his words, the crowd did as well. The student speech brought some members of the crowd to tears.
A top priority that Esquith noted for all teachers is to create a safe haven in their classrooms for children, and to provide a variety of activities for students. Esquith says," If teachers set a larger table, students will find something they will like to eat."
Esquith also provided advice to students and educators who had questions of their own.
Asked how to break the ice, he said," Make lessons exciting. Be calm, and give students opportunities to save their souls."
"First rule when dealing with administration: never ask for permission, ask for forgiveness," he added.
" I thought he was great, and made me realize how much of a difference teachers can make on their students," said Kim Lai, 19, an English major at PCC
David McCabe, an education professor at who organized Teach-a-Palooza this semester, said he invited Esquith to be this year's guest presenter because Esquith would provide the necessary inspiration for new and present teachers. "I think he did a great job tonight; I learned a couple of things myself."
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