Frank McCourt

Frank McCourt was an effective English teacher at a vocational school in New York, who was well loved and respected by his students. He never got the chance to complete high school as he had to left school to support his family. 

A quote that really stood out to me was when McCourt said, "If you're teaching and you're not learning, you'll not teach [...] and the thing about teenagers is, if you can reach them, if they listen to you, the world will listen to you." McCourt’s quote says two things. Firstly, he says that teachers who aren’t learning are not teaching. Teachers are constantly learning. They learn about their students through daily interactions, their assignments, or even visual cues. It is through this information; they discover different ways to adapt or change their teaching style to better suit the needs of the students. For example, they may have developed different ways to explain an idea or concept. Educators also engage in life-long learning as they continue to teach various subjects. The second thing this quote says is that teenagers are often thought of as stubborn, unmotivated, dumb, and confused. They are sometimes looked down on and seen as unable to contribute to society; as if they are at the bottom of the “societal food chain.” McCourt believes that an educator who can reach through these individuals and inspire them to learn will be able to easily do the same for anyone else.

McCourt excelled at using information he learned from his students to transform his classrooms to reach them better and made their learning experience much more enjoyable. McCourt reminds us that even when we become educators, who are the ones teaching, we are not truly teaching unless we are also learning.