By Nate Reaven

I love teaching. I love teaching a lot.

I love the kids. I love imparting knowledge. I love creating engaging, exciting, and most importantly challenging material that will grip the kids in a way that will get them excited about learning not for the rest of the summer, but for the rest of their lives.

I love playing games with my students. I love challenging them to tell me who Benvolio is in relation to Romeo. I love asking my students questions that do not necessarily have a right or wrong answer, but an answer that requires evidence. And then I love seeing my students support their answers with the exact right line in the play. Point proven! they yell excitedly as they show me the scene, act, and line.

I love giving my students the skills to succeed. I know that in order for my students to succeed academically and professionally, they need to know how to read. Giving my students the gift of literacy is unforgivably challenging, but it is so necessary. And I love it.

But, I’m also scared to death.

What if I do not impart the right knowledge? True, I love creating engaging, exciting, and hopefully challenging material – but will the students ever remember that activity I spent hours planning? Will the material be too challenging? Or not challenging enough?

I love playing games with my students – but shouldn’t I be spending more time having them read and write their way to success? Learning can be fun, right? But is it the most effective way for them to succeed? I love hearing one student cite the right piece of information in Romeo and Juliet, but what about the student in the corner who is more lost than Christopher Columbus on his way to India? Am I just calling on the intelligent student because I know they will know the right answer?

I love giving my students the skills to succeed – but how do I know I’m teaching the right skills? I know they need to read, but what are the steps to successful reading? Is it phonics? Does one learn how to read by being read to or is it best to just keep pushing through and hope they get it? Am I just reaching into my magic hat hoping I pull out a literate rabbit for my last trick of the night? Or will I fail and pull out nothing but air?

As a teacher, I have an unbelievable amount of power. I cannot afford to fail. Right?