We're the most aggressively inarticulate generation to come along since, you know, a long time ago!

The poem 'What Teachers Make' is not without its detractors. This one person wrote to me and said: 'Gee, Mr. Mali. You don't possibly have a teacher-God complex, do you?' And that was the first time I'd ever heard of that expression. So, yeah, I'm sure I have a teacher-God complex.

I grew up writing thank-you notes. Real, honest-to-goodness, pen-and-ink, stamped and posted letters. More than simple habit, it's about what the commitment to expressing your thoughts and feelings in writing says about the character of the writer. About the joy such notes bring to the reader.

One of the most important things that teachers teach students is you, you can work harder. You are mentally tougher than you think.

The best teachers that I had were always the ones I never wanted to disappoint.

When students have thanked me in the past for being their teacher, I have always felt that it was actually my love for the art of teaching they were speaking to.