IT’S ABOUT THE KIDS
“I like kids. I think they're funny. I think they're quirky. I also feel like a big kid. I'm forty-two. I'm not immature—I just mean I like to have fun (….) I'm a big laugh person. I like to feel excited. I like to feel my feelings. And I mean that healthfully. If I feel excited, then I'm going to show it. And I want my students to know that. I want to lead by example in that way. I want them to know that they can be happy and they can show happiness. I like kids and I think that they're important.”
“I like hard kids. Because that's where I can pay it forward. I pay attention to them. I design my concerts around them. I program my concerts around what it is that touches them and what music they are connecting with, and so on and so forth.”
“I love seeing kids have their Aha! moments.
“I call it being the proud soccer mom. I use that phrase all the time, whether it's for my friends or for my wife or for my students. When you're like the mom on the sideline--‘That is my kid out there!’ Having the proud soccer mom moments. They don't even have to be often. They can literally be once a year. That's going to save my year.”
“I really know how to hold on to the small things, the small wins. And I pay attention to small connections. (…) I have post-it notes that all of my kids have left me over fifteen years.”
“I have a drawer in my desk, a why-I'm-a-teacher drawer, and all of the things that have been really important—and some of them are really emotional—that's all in here. I kind of reflect on that.”
“It makes me happy when my students know and they feel cared for. I don't teach through intimidation. I don't think that works anymore and I don't think it's the right thing to do (…) Listen—I've got kids who wear ‘Make America Straight A’gain’ t-shirts and all sorts of stuff who turn them inside out when they come to my class. And I know that they're going to turn around and they're going to say [the ‘F word’] (…) but maybe, just maybe, some day they'll be open to connecting with somebody who's different (…) Or if their child ends up being gay they could say, ‘Well, my Music teacher was gay and she was able to be married and she had children and she had a very wonderful, beautiful life.’”
“It's loving kids. It's being able to have a passion for what you're teaching. Because I have to teach this every day, right? Like, I need to be able to feel jazzed about it.”
HAPPINESS AS A RESPONSIBILITY
“It's being able to hold on to the small things and it's being willing to go to see a therapist so that you can do the self work that you need, so that you can understand, ‘Oh, I need to set some boundaries, I'm really crappy at that.’ (…) And then, because of that, I am good at setting boundaries. I do know myself. I'm not perfect and I definitely go through all the things and the trauma responses, and the whatever. But I have (…) a self-awareness about myself.”
“And I think that I have a responsibility to do the things that (…) keep me as happy as I can be, because if I'm miserable my students will think that I don't like them. And the last thing they need is someone else who makes them think that they don't like them.”
“This is my identity. I cannot retire from this unhappy. I won't let it happen.”