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“For about a minute, I focus on things that have me worried or sad. You might call it a prayer or a moment of meditation. But whatever you call it, I take a few moments to pause and just think…I think of everything possible that could get me down. And I remind myself to leave those problems in the car. They have no place in Room 56. There are kids there with problems far greater than mine, and without the adult sensibilities to handle them.” Rafe Esquith, Real Talk for Real Teachers.

The Center for Education Reform (CER) is a leading advocate for issues related to charter schools, teacher quality, online learning, standardized testing, and federal policy. CER aims to make sure that parents are aware of school choice, that teachers make use of their resources, and that all students receive the education that they deserve. Rafe Esquith, a fifth grade teacher at Hobart Elementary School in Los Angeles, shines as an educator. CER, in regards to the issue of teacher quality, believes that teachers carry a heavy influence over their students. Therefore, it is imperative that children are taught by the best, and that the best should be rewarded for their hard work.

In Real Talk for Real Teachers, Esquith offers advice to the 22-year-old with a baccalaureate starting out his or her career as a teacher and to the master of the classroom who began perfecting the art of education…well, years ago. Nonetheless, Esquith suggests for both the young folks and those more experienced in the profession to not only believe in Churchill’s concept of never ever giving up, but to also put their students first.

As Esquith tells his students on a daily basis, a task cannot be accomplished some of the time; nor can it be accomplished most of the time. A task can only be accomplished if it is done all the time. Therefore, effective teachers are the ones who plan and care for their students all of the time. Throughout his book, Esquith mentions that teaching is a profession that comes with much joy, but it is also one that holds many challenges. A teacher must decide whether or not he or she will burn out in front of their students or burn brighter for them.

Esquith chooses to burn brighter. Like any person, Esquith is worried about buying his wife, Barbara, the new kitchen she has been longing for and cannot seem to help thinking about his daughter struggling with her pregnancy. His problems and concerns for other people and even for himself are very real, but he chooses to leave them in the car. There are students in his classroom, however, who truly struggle. Their problems are not only real to Esquith, but also tangible; their problems touch his heart. Esquith is not trying to “save” every student, but rather he desires to open doors for the children in his classroom. However, it must be the student’s choice whether or not to walk through those doors.

An effective teacher does not push, but encourages his or her students to take initiatives. CER takes the initiative to ensure that teachers like Esquith are the ones who will be teaching our future students. They wake up in the morning, drive to school, park the car, think about their own problems, and leave those thoughts in the car. They then help their students grow academically, but more so personally in the classroom. They drive home—planning a lesson or two on the way back and can hardly wait to teach it the next day.

There may be nothing new under the sun to an experienced teacher, but challenges will always exist. The effective teacher, like Esquith and those that the CER believe in, welcome all obstacles and overcome them—all the time. I hope to become a teacher someday myself. The response I usually receive is: “Why? You could do anything – why would you want to teach?”

Days after my high school graduation, I went back to visit. I saw one of my teachers, who quite frankly I never felt knew how to teach, and he asked me how I thought I did on the AP exam. In my heart, I was thinking, “How do you think I did having you as a teacher?” But I just said, “Pretty good, I think. I’m hoping for a 4.” He replied back, “You’re not good enough to get a 4. Maybe a 3” and because I had already graduated, I had that power to leave him standing there in the hallway without so much as a goodbye. I just left him with a smile, something I do out of habit.

However, the reality is that some students do not have that ability to leave—they must stay in the classroom with that one teacher for the entire school year! I did not care about how my teacher thought I would do on the exam; I did well for myself and that was all that mattered to me. I do care, though, that he told me—to my face—that I was not good enough. So teachers, I tell you: NEVER tell your students they are not good enough unless you want to encourage low expectations and widen the achievement gap.

Part of the reason I want to teach will always relate back to that dream of being able to decorate my classroom walls, buy teacher clothes, and teach A Separate Peace. However, more of it has to do with the fact that I never want any student to leave my classroom thinking he or she is “not good enough.” In the same manner Esquith leaves his worries in the car, I will tell my students to leave such thought alone—or better yet get rid of them not just some or most of the time, but all of the time. That type of negativity will not have a place in Room…TBA.

Navraj Narula, CER Intern