I watched and as a teacher I would have given him some advice to get through to the kids. I saw a missed opportunity to get them fired up and ready for action. Instead, he lectured. The kids didn’t look engaged.
I would have suggested he offer a new vision for why they should engage in his words, not just for themselves but for a higher purpose, for their community, the world.
But in the end—the look on the faces of the students brought tears to my eyes. They crowded to the front to shake his hand. They all said, “Thank you. Thank you Mr President.”
So I saw something that day. I saw that they engaged in who this man is, the hope he represents by who he is in this life, this world.
I remembered hearing Ron Ritchart say that students are not so much watching us model as watching as role models.