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I recently completed a 3-week book tour for Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire. It was rather ironic. I was supposed to be on the road inspiring teachers and parents, but more often than not, I was the one being inspired.

I met thousands of caring and talented people. There are so many citizens in our nation who are working very hard every day and making a difference. We never read about them in the newspaper or see them on television. I met a man who has been a fabulous teacher for forty-five years in Portland, Oregon. It's exciting meeting heroes. It can be depressing that our culture seems more intrigued with Britney Spears' underwear than amazing individuals like the man in Portland.

Sadly, at every appearance on the tour I was asked the same question. A teacher would stand up and say, "Rafe, what do you think I should do? I love being a teacher. I am doing extra things with my kids, and the children are fantastic. But some of my fellow teachers are mean to me."

Perhaps the teacher began a chess club, or was coming in early to give struggling youngsters extra help, or putting on a play after school. Time and again, these dedicated stars felt the stinging pain of a colleague making critical and often downright mean-spirited comments. One would think the coworkers would be cheering. Instead, the final comment to some of these extraordinary teachers was "Are you trying to make us look bad?"

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I receive lots of mail. Yesterday I read a letter from a passionate and talented young teacher who had visited my room a year ago. He is in his first year of teaching and incredibly discouraged.

I come home tired and frustrated, and to be honest, I sometimes think about quitting. I'm sure, Rafe, that you have had your own share of aggravations in a lengthy career in education. But I never saw that for a moment in your class at Hobart; each moment was filled with joy. How do you prevent any of that negative energy from breaching the walls of Room 56?

I feel discouraged practically every day. I was quite sad yesterday. It was Saturday morning, normally one of my favorite days of the week. This is the day when about 60 former students, grades 6-9, return to my classroom to continue their studies. The kids are amazing. They study Shakespeare, algebra, and college prep tests. These young people are hungry, kind, and hard working. The school is completely empty, and on these days Room 56 is the closest thing to Utopia I have ever discovered.

But I lost two kids yesterday and it is very discouraging.

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I am a very lucky teacher. It's fantastic taking students around the country and meeting so many passionate, caring, and talented people who make a difference in children's lives. It is interesting hearing the questions of both beginning teachers and skilled veterans. My students have noticed a few repeatedly asked questions in every city we visit. One of them happens after an audience has watched the Hobart Shakespeareans, aged ten, perform music and Shakespeare. The inevitable question comes up: are all of your students gifted and talented?

When I explain that there are all kinds of children in Room 56, there is always a teacher or two who doubts that to be true. I wish they could have accompanied me recently when my students and I flew home from Chicago after two weeks on the road. We got up at 4:00 a.m. that morning to catch an early morning flight. I made it back to Room 56 around 11:00 a.m. Los Angeles time. The kids who had not been with me on the trip were studying the Industrial Revolution with Mr. Toliz, a terrific young teacher who has been kind enough to teach my class while I was on tour. The kids were excited about my return, and I took over the lesson.

Once the children began working on some written work, a tall 5^th grader named Felipe quietly came up and asked to speak with me. He told me he had an accident. That morning he had wet his pants and there was a puddle on the floor under his seat. This was a remarkable moment. He had enough trust in me to tell me about a very embarrassing moment, and I excused him to go to the nurse so he could call home and get a change of pants. While the kids were out at lunch, I was on my hands and knees cleaning a fairly large pond of urine off the floor.

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Being a teacher these days is overwhelming. The demands placed on an instructor's time can deflate the heartiest of spirits. Even the most talented and energetic teachers are finding that there are not enough hours in the day to jump through all the hoops of pacing plans and standardized instruction. As a result, many good teachers have shared their frustration with me that they are not reaching their kids.

You don't know that.

Please remember on your worst day that life is messy. A school district may have decided that on a particular date all of your students will have mastered a skill, but that's unrealistic. Time and again when you have begged, pleaded, and cajoled a student to see the light, you may have think you have failed because he has done poorly in class or makes poor life decisions despite your heroic efforts to prevent this from happening. You become depressed and believe you have failed.

You don't know that.

Frequently there are times when your lessons and advice kick in years after a student has left your classroom. Children learn at different paces and in different ways, even though the No Child Left Behind fiasco believes that all children are simply Learning Units ready to be programmed. It's not that simple.

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Rafe Esquith is our guest blogger during the week of January 28th. If you have any questions for Rafe Esquith, add a comment to any of his posts. Here is some brief information about Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 65:

In a Los Angeles neighborhood plagued by guns, gangs, and drugs, there is an exceptional classroom known as Room 56. The fifth graders inside are first-generation immigrants who live in poverty and speak English as a second language. They also play Vivaldi, perform Shakespeare, score in the top 1 percent on standardized tests, and go on to attend Ivy League universities. Rafe Esquith is the teacher responsible for these accomplishments.

From the man whom The New York Times calls “a genius and a saint” comes a revelatory program for educating today’s youth. In Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire!, Rafe Esquith reveals the techniques that have made him one of the most acclaimed educators of our time. The two mottoes in Esquith’s classroom are “Be Nice, Work Hard,” and “There Are No Shortcuts.” His students voluntarily come to school at 6:30 in the morning and work until 5:00 in the afternoon. They learn to handle money responsibly, tackle algebra, and travel the country to study history. They pair Hamlet with rock and roll, and read the American classics. Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire! is a brilliant and inspiring road map for parents, teachers, and anyone who cares about the future success of our nation’s children.