For years I watched my mother take the time at recess to review, go on home visits in the afternoon, buy combs and brushes and peanut butter and crackers to put in her desk drawer for kids that needed to eat, and a washcloth and some soap for the kids who didn't smell so good. See, it's hard to teach kids who stink. And kids can be cruel. And so she kept those things in her desk, and years later, after she retired, I watched some of those same kids come through and say to her, "You know, Ms. Walker, you made a difference in my life. You made it work for me. You made me feel like I was somebody, when I knew, at the bottom, I wasn't. And I want you to just see what I've become."

  好多年了,我看着我妈妈利用课间休息时间批改作业,下午去家访,买梳子、刷子、花生酱和饼干,把他们放在自己的抽屉里给那些饿了的孩子们吃,还有为那些脏孩子们准备了一条毛巾和一些肥皂。看吧,教那些发臭的孩子是困难的一件事。而孩子们有时也是比较“残忍”的。所以她把这些东西都放在她的抽屉里,然后过了很多年,在她退休以后,我看到一些当年的孩子们回来告诉她, “您知道,Walker老师,您改变了我的生活。您让它有了意义。您让我觉得我是个人物,虽说在心底我知道我不是。我就是想让您看看我现在成为了个什么样的人。”

  And when my mama died two years ago at 92, there were so many former students at her funeral, it brought tears to my eyes, not because she was gone, but because she left a legacy of relationships that could never disappear.

  当我妈妈两年前以92岁高龄去世的时候,有好多好多的以前的学生来参加了她的葬礼,我哭了,不是因为她去世了,而是因为她留下了这些永远不会消失的各种联系。

  Can we stand to have more relationships? Absolutely. Will you like all your children? Of course not. And you know your toughest kids are never absent. (Laughter) Never. You won't like them all, and the tough ones show up for a reason. It's the connection. It's the relationships. And while you won't like them all, the key is, they can never, ever know it. So teachers become great actors and great actresses, and we come to work when we don't feel like it, and we're listening to policy that doesn't make sense, and we teach anyway. We teach anyway, because that's what we do.

  我们真的可以有更多的关系吗?当然可以。你会喜欢你所有的学生吗?当然不。你也知道那些最难搞的孩子总是很难甩掉。(笑声)永远不会。你不会喜欢每一个人,然而难搞的那几个的出现也是有理由的。这就是联系,是关系。当你不会喜欢他们每一个人的时候,关键就是他们永远也不会知道这一点。所以老师们变成伟大的演员,我们得强迫自己工作,我们得听从那些毫无道理的政策,我们还得上课。我们还得上课,因为这是我们的责任。

  Teaching and learning should bring joy. How powerful would our world be if we had kids who were not afraid to take risks, who were not afraid to think, and who had a champion? Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.

  教学和学习应该是让人愉快的事情。我们的世界会变得多么的强大如果我们的孩子都不害怕接受挑战,不害怕思考,都赢得了一个冠军?每个孩子都可以成为一个冠军,一个成年人要永远不放弃他们,懂得联系的强大力量,坚信他们可以变成那个最好的自己。

  Is this job tough? You bet. Oh God, you bet. But it is not impossible. We can do this. We're educators. We're born to make a difference.

  这个职业很艰巨不?当然。上帝,毫无疑问。但是这不是不可能的。我们可以的,因为我们是教育家。我们天生就是重塑他人的。

  Thank you so much.

  非常感谢大家。

  来源网站:百度