April 2, 2010
We had the joy of meeting Mollie Williams, from Chesapeake, Virginia, at a conference recently. We were laughing with Mollie about the tenacity and tolerance of a large group of educators who sat on the floor in a packed room at the conference, just to attend their session of choice.
Mollie commented that she'd told her husband about the experience and after listening attentively he mentioned that he found it hard to fathom why teachers would sit on the floor just to get information related to their work. He had recently attended a business conference and remarked how he was quite certain his fellow businessmen would never sit on the floor in order to participate in an overflowing session.
Mollie eloquently and gently told her husband, "I guess that is the difference between a career and a calling. I am willing to sit on the floor, or even stand in a session if I believe I can gather a nugget of information to refine my craft of teaching, take it back to my classroom and positively impact my student's learning."
Wow. Well said, Mollie. Thanks for sharing your powerful words. You've reignited our passion and we bet you've reminded weary teachers all over the country that they got into this business because they were called to it.