The Influential Teacher hopes these insights into teaching will ignite or rekindle a love for your noble profession.

“Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.”~Albert Einstein

“We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.”~Ben Sweetland

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” ~William Arthur Ward

“I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.” ~Dr. Haim Ginott

“More important than the curriculum is the question of the methods of teaching and the spirit in which the teaching is given.”
~Bertrand Russell

“The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist.”
~Maria Montessori

"We must view young people not as empty bottles to be filled, but as candles to be lit." ~Robert H. Shaffer

"A teacher affects eternity. He can never tell where his influence stops." ~Henry Brooks Adams

"I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework."~Edith Ann

"I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that they are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit." ~John Steinbeck

“Teaching should be full of ideas instead of stuffed with facts.” ~Author Unknown

"One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child." ~Carl Jung

"The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book." ~Author Unknown

“One mark of a great educator is the ability to lead students out to new places where even the educator has never been.” ~Thomas Groome