Every Kid Needs a Champion--TED Talk

In this around-8-minute talk, Rita Pierson, an educator who had taught 40 years, points out the importance of relationships, the connection, between teachers and students. In response to a colleague who told her the school didn't pay her to like the kids, Rita said, "Kids don't learn from people they don't like."

As a teacher, before the first class, before I met my new students, I had already loved all of them. Everyone, yes, unconditionally! And that was why I enjoyed teaching from the very beginning to the last day of my teaching career. Even when I later taught as a substitute, I took the same attitude.



For those who want to watch it with English subtitles or in another language as chosen:

http://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion

Some sentences that impressed me:

"... no significant learning can occur without a significant relationship."

"... how am I going to take this group in nine months from where they are to where they need to be."

"... 'you made a difference in my life. You made it work for me. You made me feel like I was somebody, when I knew, at the bottom, I wasn't. And I want you to just see what I've become.'"  (Told to Rita's mom after she retired by a former student)

"We teach anyway, because that's what we do."

"Teaching and learning should bring joy."

"Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be."