Thanks for such an insightful little read. I am a Philosophy teacher, high school teacher, and grad school candidate, I also taught Judo for 10 years. Here are a few things that really got to me, and why in a small reflective manner.

"Learning isn’t something that can be rushed or completed; instead, it’s an ongoing, recursive process. There are some lessons I am constantly relearning because I’m always forgetting."

I find it interesting that no matter what, I will always consider myself as a "full time student" as I entirely reciprocate with this. It's funny, some people think getting the baccalaureate paper means they are "done." Well, they accept that there is grad school, but they never seem to need to revisit material again. Just because you did something once does not mean you will be able to do it again down the road. Need to "keep the blade sharp" as it were.

"If a student shows up in our class, that student belongs there, no matter the student’s skills or lack thereof. We are not gatekeepers, but rather openers of the gates of the mind."

Again, I entirely agree. Many educators seem to gatekeep. I think it is part of the nature of being an educator, that is, the proprietor of knowledge. It takes an actually good educator to overcome the pitfall of this nature that pitfall being the potential for gatekeeping.

I also really did enjoy the story about the student who you had a certain perception of that changed your view. Thanks again.