TEACHING

“He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil.  Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count ’em up:  what then?  The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.”

— Charles Dickens, via Ebenezer Scrooge to the Spirit of Christmas Past, talking about his former employer, Fezziwig, in A Christmas Carol.

Is being in my class a pleasure or a toil for my students?  I want to give those tiny words and looks that impart happiness to my students.  I want some of Fezziwig in me.