From the first day I stepped into a classroom to

teach, 21 years ago, I knew I had found the exactly

right profession for myself. Teaching, by the way,

is not dispensing knowledge. It's inspiring people

to become curious enough to teach themselves. Isn't

that what doctors are supposed to do---enable the

patient to heal. The word innerMotivation is an

important one to me. As a teacher, what must I say,

do or be in order to ignite the passion of a student

to pursue relentlessly his or her mission in life.

How do you do it? I don't know, for one thing it

means you have absolute respect for students and for

what they bring to the picnic, so to speak. You must

also show them what it means to be a passionate

learner. In reading literature, finding

innermotivation means validating the interpretation

of the student--not cramming down their throat the

widely held interpretation of say a short story. IF,

as a teacher, I can suppress my own egotistical idea

that I know the truth about everything, then I give

my students a chance to test their opinion and

follow those intellectual threads inward to their

own self discovery.