Teachers are a very important part of a child’s education. They not only teach them about a range of subjects, but also educate them on life values, ethics and morals in a lot of cases.
Teachers can give children the confidence they need by believing in them.
One particularly moving educational video entitled ‘Thank a teacher‘, illustrates the important role a teacher can have. The short film begins with the line; “If you can read this, thank a teacher. I am who I am because I had a great teacher”.
Different celebrities such as Jon Hamm, James McAvoy, Minnie Driver and John Legend thank their favourite teachers and inspire viewers to do the same in this video that is part of the educational campaign, ‘Waiting for Superman’.
In the video, celebrities remember what their teachers taught them, including things they learnt as a child that never left them. “I learnt that everything is possible,” admits Minnie Driver, “I learnt I didn’t need to be like everybody else,” remembers James McAvoy.
Singer and song-writer John Legend highlighted the power that teachers have to change society. “Great teachers convince the class that they are on a mission there, driving to something special. They have their conviction and their passion,” claimed the singer.
“A great teacher can change your life”
Teachers are also described as ‘a work of art’ and ‘a key to success’ in the video. “A great teacher can change your life”, state the celebrities.
US Entrepreneur and TV star Oprah Winfrey offered a compelling testimony: “Teachers are often the people who inspire us the most. I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Duncan. She so believed in me, and for the first time, made me embrace the idea of learning. I learned to love learning because of Mrs. Duncan from Wharton Elementary School.”
Teachers can also give children the confidence they need by believing in them and helping them to discover who they really are and what their strong points are.
“Mr. Sellereit from Happy Valley Elementary gave me my first acting job in my school production of The Jungle Book!” said the famous American actress Hilary Swank, honoured with an academy award in 2004 for her role as the struggling waitress-turned-boxer Maggie Fitzgerald in the movie ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
The influence that teachers have for children goes beyond school subjects. Positive teachers can often teach you to love a subject that you used to hate.
This was the case with NASA Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second person to set foot on the Moon; “I had such great teachers… maths was the toughest subject, and I was first in my class in maths because of Mr. Leach at High School New Jersey.”
Another NASA Astronaut, Robert L. Curbeam Jr, thanked his teacher, Dr. Frances (Kosnik) Alderson, from Woodlawn Junior High School: “She taught me the importance of foreign language in the education of a successful person, regardless of their primary course of study. I still use my German to this day in both work and social situations, and I have since taken classes in both Russian and Japanese.”