Think about teachers we had that we loved, and more likely than not, we loved them because we could relate to certain aspects of their lives that went beyond topics being taught about.

My dad was a 5th and 6th grade elementary teacher throughout the 80’s and 90’s are early 2000’s. His kids LOVED him. He still gets wedding invitations and when he was teaching kids who’d long ago moved out of that school would come visit him.

One thing that he did that helped people relate to him was he covered the wall behind him with pictures of us, his family. He loved taking pictures and each one he posted was of us doing family activities like vacations, performances, going to events, vacations, etc.

Just this act let the kids see him as a real person who could relate to their situation of being a kid in a family.

These pictures also lent a view into what he was interested in as the person he was beyond being a teacher. He had pictures at marathons he’d run, concerts he’d gone to, fish he’d caught – most of which included us in them.

If I think back to teachers I have no real fond memories of, none of this was present. They were all business. We were there to learn; not socialize.

To me, these boring teachers is how pure text-book-like blogs land on people – all business and zero play. It’s so cool to see you letting people know that people want to be connected to personalities and someone who conveys their wisdom through their experiences of being human as opposed to purely spewing data like a robot.

Thank you for reminding me Meegan of this lesson I can’t be reminded of too often. I hope you’re having a blast on slip and slide with the kids this fine summer. :)