我為什么當老師(Why I Teach)

　　我教書，是因為我喜愛校歷的步調。六月、七月和八月這三個月的暑假提供了一個思考、研究和創作的機會。

　　我教書，是因為教學是建立在變化基礎上的職業。雖然教材還是原來的不變，但我自身卻變了，更重要的是，我的學生變了。

　　我教書，是因為我喜歡有讓自己犯錯的自由，喜歡自己吸取教訓的自由，喜歡激勵自己和激勵學生的自由。作為教師，我可以自行做主。如果我想要求一年級學生通過自己編寫課本的方法來學習寫作，誰會說我不能那樣做呢?這樣的課程也許會徹底失敗，但我們都可以從失敗中獲得教益。

　　我教書，是因為我喜歡提出學生必須絞盡腦汁方能回答的問題。我們這個世界充滿了對付拙劣問題的正確答案。我在教學過程中，有時也發現了一些好的問題。

　　所以說，教書讓生活變得有節奏、豐富多彩；教書向我提出了挑戰，也給了我不斷學習的機會。

　　然而，我教書最重要的理由是，我的學生在我面前成長、發展、變化。有些學生成了成就斐然的博士，找到了好工作；有些對城市貧民發生了興趣，當了維護公民權力的律師；有些決定讀完高中后繼續上大學。

　　教書還帶來了超越金錢和權力以外的東西：那便是愛。不僅是愛學習、愛書本、愛思想，還有老師對出類拔萃的學生的愛。這樣的學生走進了老師的生活，開始成長起來。愛這個字也許用得不恰當，說是魔力也許更為貼切。

　　英文譯文：

　　i teach because i like the pace of the academic calendar. june, july, and august offer an opportunity for reflection, research and writing.

　　i teach because teaching is a profession built on change. when the material is the same, i change--and, more important, my students change.

　　i teach because i like the freedom to make my own mistakes, to learn my own lessons, to stimulate myself and my students. as a teacher, i'm my own boss. if i want my freshmen to learn to write by creating their own textbook, who is to say i can' t? such courses may be huge failures, but we can all learn from failures.

　　i teach because i like to ask questions that students must struggle to answer. the world is full'of right answers to bad questions. while teaching, i sometimes find good questions.

　　so teaching gives me pace and variety, and challenge,and the opportunity to keep on learning.

　　however, the most important reasons why i teach are that my students grow up and change in front of me. some have become doctoral students with excellent success and found good jobs; some have become interested in the urban poor and served as civil rights lawyers; some have decided to finish high school and go to college.

　　but teaching offers something besides money and power.it offers love. not only the love of learning and of books and ideas, but also the love that a teacher feels for that rare student who walks into a teacher's life and begins to breathe.perhaps love is the wrong word., magic might be better.

　　i teach because, being around people who are beginning to breathe, i occasionally find myself catching my breath with them.