[Educator Inspiration] Our Favorite Quotes to Kick Off 2017 in the Classroom

For educators, winter break is coming to an end, the weather is chilly, and you’ve got squirrely students and a new semester ahead of you. We’re guessing you might be looking for a little inspiration to get you energized and back into the classroom routine. Here are a few of our favorite words-of-wisdom to remind all of you outstanding educators why you do what you do—and why we’re so grateful for you!

“Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.” - Malala Yousafzai

“If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” - John Dewey

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” - Albert Einstein

“Teachers affect eternity; no one can tell where their influence stops.” - Henry Brooks Adams

“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.” - Carl Jung

“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery." - Mark Van

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” - Nelson Mandela

“A good teacher, like a good entertainer first must hold his audience's attention, then he can teach his lesson.” - John Henrik Clarke

“The man (or woman) who can make hard things easy is the educator.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Education is not to reform students or amuse them or to make them expert technicians. It is to unsettle their minds, widen their horizons, inflame their intellects, teach them to think straight, if possible.” - Robert M. Hutchins

“The best thing about being a teacher is that it matters, the worst this is that it matters everyday.” - Todd Whitaker

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” - William Butler Yeats

“Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” - Anonymous

“Every child deserves a champion: an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be.” - Rita Pierson

In need of an extra dose of motivation? Check out these four TED Talks that are worth all educators’ time. Cheers to 2017 and another year of inspired teaching and learning in the classroom!