Star News Article – October 2018 “The Legacy of an Educator”

What is your legacy? When you are no longer here, what do you want people to say about you? Are yousomeone that we will still be talking about in ten or twenty years? Will your legacy be positive or negative?These are questions I ask students every year. I am always fascinated by the various answers I get from them.They are usually geared around what they believe are their greatest accomplishments to-date, like winning thestate title or graduating as the valedictorian. One student several years ago turned the tables and asked me thesame questions. I had to stop and think for a minute…

Our legacy is created through the impact of therelationships we have today. The experiences we create through repetitive interactions eventually establishpatterns of opinions. Once an opinion has been steadily in place with little deviation a legacy is formed. So…what is my legacy as an educator? That is a great question for all of us to consider since we all serve as teachersand mentors to someone in our lives.

George Couros wrote, “Your legacy as an educator is determined by what your students do.” I love this notionof the educator’s legacy. It is not something we think about on a regular basis, but maybe we should take aminute to explore this concept. Our student’s actions are a direct reflection of our actions as educators. What wesay and what we do matters. Not just when they are in front of us, but also when we think they are not payingattention. How we behave at a sporting event when the referee makes a bad call tells our students how torespond to someone when we feel we have been treated unfairly. What we post on our personal social mediaaccount from Saturday night’s great adventure sets a goal for student aspiration. Our communication style withfellow educators can sometimes reveal how we feel personally about that individual giving our studentsdirection on how they should feel about that individual.

Self-awareness is the key if we buy-in to the notion thatour student’s actions are a direct reflection of our actions as educators. Once I was aware of the magnifyingglass hovering over me with students studying my every move, I became extremely intentional about myresponses and interactions as an educator.Twelve years ago, standing in front of a group of young women at an all-girls academy in Kensington,Maryland, one student changed the direction of my life forever. She did so by asking me that one question thatmade me stop and think.

She asked, “Mr. Yuran, what do you want your legacy to be?”

I had to pause…Ididn’t know how to respond to her question and I knew that my answer would make an impact on her, for thegood or the bad. It was at that moment that I fully understood the meaning of being a “role model” and itchanged the direction of my legacy forever. The legacy I want to have as an educator stems directly from thatseemingly innocent question twelve years ago. If it wasn’t for her, I would not be the kind of teacher I amtoday.

So, I thank you, Maddy. Thank you for being one of the greatest educators in my life and helping me tothink intentionally about the legacy I hope to have as an educator.My hope for all of you reading this article today is that you will receive the same gift I received so many yearsago. The gift of someone posing these life-changing questions about your legacy as an educator, as a mentor, asa friend. So… here are a few questions for you to consider. What is your legacy? When you are no longer here,what do you want people to say about you? Are you someone that we will still be talking about in ten or twentyyears? Will your legacy be positive or negative? You only have one chance to create your legacy – I hope youwill make it a good one!