I imagine a teacher to be soil. The earth from which plants grow. I imagine that a teacher can be the place where ideas are planted, and the place that they sprout from. Equally they may be the place a student begins, and hopefully, if the soil is rich, the students planted there will become more perfectly themselves as they grow from it. 

I imagine a teacher to nourish, and to know the infinite other sources of nourishment that contribute to the growth of their students. Even if the soil is perfectly rich, perfectly balanced, and packed exactly as it should be, a teacher knows that without sun, and rain, and a healthy seed, a student will not grow in all the ways they could. As the soil doesn’t blame a plant for the conditions of its growth, a teacher understands the barriers facing their students and remains a safe place to be grounded even when they cannot become the sun and the rain in their students’ lives.

The soil has no choice in which seeds are planted with them, and cannot change what plants will grow from those seeds. In perfect conditions, a teacher allows whatever students are planted with them to grow to their greatest potential, each one being unique and yet having a place in the garden of a teacher’s career. 

I imagine a teacher, like soil, is enhanced by the presence of each student planted with them. Like a garden, like soil, like plants, and even like bugs, each aspect of a classroom is reciprocal, and supports the growth of the environment itself. I imagine a classroom as a garden that benefits from the natural diversity of life. I imagine each student who thinks differently from another, who comes from a different place from another, or who came to be here differently from another, will contribute to the growth of each of their classmates, and to the richness of the soil that is their teacher. 

I know that rich soil can be home to plants at every stage of their growth, be it a thousand year old cedar tree, or a fresh shoot of thimbleberry. Great teachers, like great soil, meet their students wherever they are in their journey, and help them get to the next stage of growth, whatever that means for them. Similarly, I know the limitations of soil. I know that some plants grow best in conditions and soils that are dry, while others appreciate shade, and others need moisture. I know that no matter how rich a soil may be, not every student will see it as the best place for their growth. In those cases, I imagine that soil as a safe place for that student to remain before they find the earth they wish to grow from. 

I imagine a teacher to be soil. A rich and safe place for students to ground themselves. An important source of growth. And themselves enriched by the students who are planted with them over the course of a lifetime.