TOW #8: What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali (IRB post)

What do teachers make? The simple question that turned Taylor Mali’s world upside-down. Mali was asked this question by a lawyer at a dinner party and they answer he gave changed his whole life. You see, Mali didn’t answer the lawyer’s question that night, but the next day through a poem. This poem later lead the author to write the book, “What Teachers Make”, which is described as “praise to the greatest job in the world”.  After reading the first haft of this book, I was able to learn more about Mali’s life as a teacher and how certain memories from his teaching career influenced different lines in his poem. But upon completing the book, I was able to truly understand why Mali loves what he does.

Mali wrote this book with the intention of showing his readers what teachers truly make. He hoped that his poem and book would be able to appeal to all; teachers, students, parents, and basically anyone who has ever been affected by a teacher.  Mali even adds information about his personal goal for the poem/book. His goal is to have his pieces create one thousand new teachers.

By using the memories he has from teaching, Mali is able to support his overall purpose of showing his readers what teachers make.  Each of his memories emphasizes a different event that has made teaching so special for him. One memory in particular that Mali used that really stood out to me was when he said that once he reaches his goal in the quest for one thousand teachers he would donate his hair. This is because while he was teaching at an all boys’ school, he found out that one of his students had cancer. As a treatment, Mali’s student, Tony, had to go through chemotherapy that caused him to lose all his hair. The other twelve boys in his class shaved their heads in solidarity of Tony. Mali describes this memory as a “beautiful sight”.  I believe that this moment not only helped Mali prove his purpose of what teachers make, but also helped him see the difference students can make in a teacher’s life.

So what do teachers make?

Teachers make a difference.