Know Your Why: Teachers Share Their Story

Photo: Shutterstock


Tennesseans for Student Success (TSS) recently released a video of 2018-19 Tennessee Teacher of the Year, Melissa Miller, and we’re in love. Being a teacher is not easy, but so important to the success of our community and the future of our children.

TSS is encouraging teachers and leaders to believe it’s necessary to celebrate educators for the community to ‘Know Their Why.’

Here’s Melissa Miller’s why:

“Hi! I am Melissa Miller and I teach first grade at Franklin Elementary School and I’m the Tennessee Teacher of the Year.

“This is my why. My why is to teach students to believe in themselves. My why is to see the invisible in each and every child. My why is to help students see what they can become, to inspire a passion for learning that is absolutely unquenchable.

“My why is to give every child, every chance, every day – to feel and to become successful.

“My why is to be that teacher that they never forget. You never know the reach you have, the touch your words have on a life. No matter what position you are, no matter what you do. Where you’re sitting right now, you are important in the lives of your teammates, of your workmates, of your family, of your friend.

“So I encourage you: write down your ‘why,’ and let that continue to grow as you continue to grow because we’re each really a piece of all of the others of an absolutely beautiful, amazing masterpiece. So write down your why. Do it now. Do it today. And let that keep growing as you keep growing.”

ARE YOU AN EDUCATOR? Share your ‘why’ and it may be read on air.
Please be patient as it may take a moment to load
[ss-promo op_id=”604664″ op_guid=”d347314e-a400-4119-a9f9-a69724d1e935″ routing=”hash”]

Recent Headlines

17 hours ago in Sports

Kevin Durant says he wants to play for US men’s basketball team at 2028 Olympics in LA

"I didn't want to just take my name out of consideration just because of the simple fact that I'm older and I did it before"

17 hours ago in Sports

UFL restricts punting beyond 50-yard line and makes 60-plus field goals worth 4 points

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The UFL won’t allow punts after a team crosses the 50-yard line until late in each…

19 hours ago in Entertainment

Robert Carradine, ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ and ‘Lizzie McGuire’ star, dies at 71

Robert Carradine, the youngest of his prolific Hollywood family and whose biggest hit was the 1984 comedy "Revenge of the Nerds," has died at 71. In a Tuesday statement to news outlets, his family said he lived with bipolar disorder for two decades and died by suicide.

19 hours ago in Sports, Trending

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao agree to a rematch in September at The Sphere in Las Vegas

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have agreed to a rematch of their landmark 2015 bout. Their second fight will be held Sept. 19 in Las Vegas, the boxing icons announced Monday.

2 days ago in Olympics, Sports

Lindsey Vonn says surgery saved her from having her left leg amputated following Olympic crash

American skier Lindsey Vonn says she nearly lost her left leg following a frightening crash in the women's downhill at the Milan Cortina Olympics. Vonn shared in an Instagram post on Monday that her injuries went far beyond the complex tibia fracture in the leg she initially revealed after clipping a gate and sailing off course just 13 seconds into her run on Feb. 8.