For each teacher, there are moments that are remembered when light bulbs went off, when their philosophy changed, when a student touched their lives. These moments don't happen every day, sometimes not every week or every year. But there are some that stand head and shoulders above the rest. I find great satisfaction in helping a student achieve in the classroom or master something they didn't think they could master, but the things that I want to stand on a mountaintop and yell, "I do make a difference!" are of a completely different genre.

Those things are the moments that make my heart swell with pride and bring tears to my eyes. Those moments aren't as plentiful as I would like them to be, but when they happen, I have to share with someone.

This week when we were in Washington, DC, our tour brought us to the Iwo Jima Memorial. We were walking around the Memorial taking pictures and talking about the battle on Iwo Jima when a parent grabbed me by the arm and showed me 3 of my boys kneeling at the monument with their hats off and praying. They were the only 3 out of the group who did this. No one told them too, but they realized the importance of what we were seeing and the sacrifice that the men who fought on Iwo Jima made for our freedoms.

Before we left for Washington, I did lessons on each memorial and how to respect the events and people they each represented, but I had no idea that these 3 boys would make such a powerful gesture.

As a teacher, I was more proud of these boys at this moment than at any other. Sometimes, the lessons that we teach fall on deaf ears, but this one was obviously heard.