I know I'm a good teacher because...

The heading for this blog post may sound presumptious and yet I make no apologies for that. Having read the wonderful post by @DebraKidd  http://debrakidd.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/the-heart-of-the-matter/
entitled 'The Heart of the Matter' - I had been thinking about what role we play as teachers and what it is that's important.
This morning I went for my hair cutting, my regular hairdresser has moved to Brighton (most inconsiderate really!) and so I wandered into a random hairdressers in town and asked for an appointment. They called for a 'junior' to show me the way upstairs. Said junior arrived and was a wonderful young lady I taught a few years ago. And here's the thing - we both beamed at one another and she rushed over and gave me a hug saying ''How lovely to see you Madam, are you OK?' (the Madam bit is a story for another post!)
So do you know what - I know I'm a good teacher because my pupils saw me as a person, I talked to them, I was bothered and they remembered the good times we had in and out of the classroom.
This young lady was part of a small group of pupils who were stranded with myself and another teacher for several hours when our bus broke down in Scarborough - it wasn't a chore - it was hilarious and fun!
(She is the young girl second to left in black)

My point is - she will have no idea what level I gave her, or what I wrote on her report. I'm not sure how much she will remember of what I taught her but I do know from her reaction that she remembered that I cared and that she was important in my classroom.

Why are you a good teacher? #Iknowimagoodteacher because - tweet your response - it's about time we showed the positive side of teaching!