What kind of teacher would I like to be?

The simplest and truest answer to this question is that I'd like to be like all the teachers I had whom I've admired and respected. Consciously and subconsciously, their lessons, academic or otherwise, have stuck to me as stubbornly as dishonesty to a tobacco lobbyist. They were the ones who made me want to do well (Doesn't every young person yearn to please and not disappoint his role models?); who led me to the brink of an insight but let me connect the dots myself; who had a sense of humor, a bottomless curiosity, and sharp command of words.

I don't want to be a hero to my students--indeed, even if I did I'm pretty sure I would fail. That's because I am a flawed person who tries to do his best but sometimes falls short and, on occasion, well short. I'll go further. I believe it is these flaws and moments of vulnerability that allow others to relate to me, laugh at me and with me, and forge bonds of trust in which learning can take place. Of course, I'm not saying that being earnest and well intentioned alone will do. No. I want to be so passionate and knowledgeable about reading and writing that I can pass these gifts along to my students. If I can do that, if I can encourage students to reach farther than they thought possible, if I can live up to the way I was raised and taught, then I will have become the teacher I would like to be.