One Rising Star

Of course a footballer’s dream is to play professionally, but if you can’t make it big, you may as well hang out with someone who has… Everything started a few years ago when I showed up at a women’s football tournament here in Dubai and I heard that Diego Maradona, the famous Argentinean football player, was in attendance. Everyone was so excited, sneaking around trying to meet him and to snap a picture. I on the other hand was quite calm and thought that if it was meant to be, one day, I would meet him and get a picture without having to “mob” him like everyone else. It wasn’t too long after, that I was introduced to Maradona’s girlfriend, who to my surprise joined my football squad. Then, one night after a game, I was finally photographed with the well-known footballer. Patience indeed paid off as not only did I get a picture with him, I now got to see him quite often at our games and training sessions. Furthermore, I got to speak with him several times, I got to hear him holler...

Ever heard of Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutierrez, Joe Louis Clark, Erin Gruwell or Ron L. Clark?  They are remarkable teachers I discovered through watching movies and reading books when I first began teaching over 8 years ago.  They are all educators that inspired me (and continue to motivate me) to step-up my game as a teacher. -Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutierrez was a Bolivian educator known for teaching students calculus from 1974 to 1991 at Garfield High School, East Los Angeles, California .   – Watch STAND AND DELIVER! J -Joe Louis Clark is the former principal of Eastside High School in Paterson , one of New Jersey 's toughest inner city schools. Clark gained public attention in the 1980s for his unconventional and controversial disciplinary measures.   – Watch LEAN ON ME! J -Erin Gruwell is an American teacher known for her unique teaching method, which led to the publication of The Freedom Writers Diary: How a T...

I still remember that day back in 2007, I was sitting beside my husband at the child psychiatrist’s waiting for a diagnosis for my daughter. In her young life, my daughter Pascale had not reached many of the typical milestones. As a baby she would zip around the house in a jazz split and never felt the need to walk or to go about any other way. She talked later than her peers and the most puzzling of all she didn’t interact with others. She did have one friend, her imaginary friend named ``Sally``. One day she asked me ``Why do we need friends?`` At that point, I didn’t worry too much about her because she had such a nice personality and she enjoyed being in our house with our family. Then I noticed her anxiety levels were high and she would do uncontrollable jerking movements with her arms. She also had blisters on her thumbs from constantly rubbing them on her fingers. As a child I also suffered from anxiety and still do to this day. I remember walking to the arena fo...

It is funny the things you remember from your childhood. I clearly remembering coming home from school knowing one day I would be a teacher.   As the years passed and my experiences grew, so to has my view of teaching changed. However, one thing has remained constant, I love being a teacher! Every class you teach is full of unique individuals with their own quirks. The first day of school everyone is nervous, especially me. I look at my group of students and wonder how am I going to learn all their little quirks to be able to touch their lives to leave a positive lasting impression. How am I going to help them to discover who they are so they may reach their full potential? How am I going to help these children feel that they are a wonderful and valued addition to our class? Through a lot of work, spending oodles of time with them, being observant and creative there is always a point in the year when I see that my students blossom. Nothing is more rewarding than seein...

  “I went into education in order to help students achieve their goals and help them succeed. While growing up, I had some learning disabilities and always struggled in school. I really didn’t like school because I felt like I had to many obstacles to overcome in order to succeed. But thanks to my parents and a couple of teachers I stayed in school and succeeded. Now, I want to give this back to my own kids and students. Sometimes school is the only place where a child feels safe and accepted. While I was Principal at École Secondaire Confédération in Welland, we suddenly lost a child to meningitis. Death is always a difficult thing, but losing a student was devastating news for the school community. The night that we got the news, a group of over 20 students gathered on my front lawn. I didn't find this out until the next day when my neighbor told me. He had asked the kids what they were doing on my front lawn and if I was aware they were even there. The students res...

The reason why I got into teaching is to make a difference. To leave a little footprint on each of my students. And I teach kindergarten because I get to have the privilege to teach little humans how to read and write. I also get to make some moms cry because they are so happy their child is reading and writing for the first time The obstacles I've faced having this international teaching experience, is being far from my own family. Although I see them in the summer, and I've been lucky enough to have some of them visit me in the U.S., in Brazil and in Dubai; I've many special moments from their lives and vice versa. My proudest moments are simply the amazing people I've met in the different countries I've lived/taught in. My friends is what's made each country feel like home away from home.

The 7 stories you are about to read are real and in my opinion they truly deserve to be shared. They are stories written by just a few (because there are so many more) of the incredible people that I’ve had the privilege to come across at some point in my life. These are people that, whether they knew it before or not, have inspired me in some way. I can’t begin to tell you how fortunate I feel to be surrounded by such inspiring people. Our planet is not a perfect place and life isn’t always easy, but being surrounded by special people like the ones you’ll soon read about makes a World of a difference. *Christal and I met while on humanitarian trips in the Dominican Republic. She is by far one of the most inspiring people I have ever come across. It is mainly because of her and the unique opportunities she and her team provided me in the Dominican Republic that I’ve developed such a passion fo...