If no one learns, did anyone teach?

Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, Carnegie Hall, originally uploaded by elephantsgerald.

I think a crucial role here, and I'm prepared to take flack for this, is selling. When I teach, I make quite a bit of a big deal about the importance, the benefit, the excitement, of what is to be learned. There is also 'word of mouth' selling, in that siblings and friends have spoken highly of the class, so kids come in primed, even pumped to learn. I do make it job one to sell how what we do together grows their minds and spirits, develops perception, helps in other disciplines, and has real value in this world, not just as job skills, but as how to extract real meaning from their lives. Little kids know this, but older kids do not. I resell it all the time. It's exhausting. But very successful. I do have 2-3 kids fail out of 26 in most sections. But even those are learning, and tell me so when they come back to visit. I don't take failure personally. Just seriously. That's key. It's okay to consider that if I improve kids learning will improve. I take it as an indicator of my methods, not my worth as a human being.