Teachers are an amazing lot. Equal parts talent, perseverance, patience, wisdom, drive, passion, stamina, empathy, and about 200 other attributes. But we also all encounter frustration. The amount of that frustration can be tiny or enormous, and the source can be singular or manifold. It can range from being a nuisance to being downright debilitating. At those times I remember the wonderfully profound words of Edward Everett Hale: “I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” And that, my friends, is what makes you a teacher.

Peter Loel Boonshaft, Director of Education
KHS America

About the Author

Dr. Boonshaft, Director of Education for KHS America, is the author of the critically acclaimed best-selling books Teaching Music with Passion, Teaching Music with Purpose, and Teaching Music with Promise. Dr. Boonshaft is currently on the faculty of Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, where he is Professor of Music. He was honored by the National Association for Music Education and Music For All as the first recipient of the “George M. Parks Award for Leadership in Music Education.”