Is there a teacher to whom you owe a debt of gratitude for their belief in you and your capabilities?

That one teacher for me was Miss Lillian Biard when I attended school at the Navy base in the Panama Canal Zone. She discovered I liked reading, and her love of teaching her students to read brought her and her students tremendous satisfaction. It was then that I decided to be a teacher like Miss Biard.

After getting a degree in teaching, I discovered that my passion for working in inner-city Portland high schools was a dream come true. Although I had passed my student teaching with flying colors, I soon learned the importance of learning from my students. I set out to practice what I had learned from a book titled Teach Only Love by Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D. Rather than stand in front of a classroom full of students and lecture on what I knew, I started practicing what I had learned from Teach Only Love. My goal became practicing having students leave my classroom knowing they had learned something of value. Rather than skip my classes, students clamored to be seated and ready to learn. (On most days.)

When I was offered a position as vice-principal in a high school located at the strictest juvenile corrections facility for boys in Oregon, I asked for a tour when students were in their classes. I soon realized that many of the boys had similar backgrounds to the ones I had in my classes in Portland. After two years of planning and assessing the different learning styles of the boys, I founded a program, Project POOCH -Positive Opportunities, Obvious Change with Hounds. Sometimes, that one teacher to whom you owe gratitude is a Dog.

Second Chances: The Transformative Relationship Between Incarcerated Youth and Shelter Dogs