Lynn Daniel, middle and high school reading, Phoenix, AZ:

Early in my teaching career, I yearned to host a group of students on a study abroad venture. Because of my own commitments outside of school, I was not able to make that happen, but one year, a colleague who was involved with the foreign exchange program at the high school shared that she had students who were available to speak to classes.

I arranged for one of her students to speak to my eighth-grade English class. The student was a tall young man from Germany with exceptional English. He told stories of driving on the autobahn and of his responsibilities and privileges in his home country. His tales captivated my students—they attended to his every word! Days after the presentation my students were still talking about the guest speaker, so I recommended they write thank-you notes and assemble them in a small book for the student to take back to Germany with him.

This was just one of many of my early teaching experiences that I truly enjoyed!