As I complete my term as college vice-president it is with humility and honor that I thank everyone involved with Missouri Music Educators. Having experienced music education in several other states (New York, Missouri, Florida and Georgia) I can honestly say that Missouri has some of the most talented, dedicated, and gracious music teachers I have had the pleasure of working with. The opportunity to provide all children with a well-rounded music education is part of a mission we all celebrate and I applaud all who dedicate their lives to fulfilling this mission. Here are some inspirational quotes I have collected throughout my career that have helped me affirm, re-kindle and motivate my journey as a teacher. I hope they provide you the same reflective support they have me.

The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth." ~Dan Rather

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. ~William Arthur Ward

To teach is to learn twice. ~Joseph Joubert

Education is the best viaticum of old age. ~Aristotle

A man should first direct himself in the way he should go. Only then should he instruct others. ~Buddha

Give me a fish and I eat for a day. Teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime. ~Chinese Proverb

Every artist was at first an amateur. ~Ralph W. Emerson

Education...beyond all other devices of human origin, is a great equalizer
of conditions of men --the balance wheel of the social machinery...It does
better than to disarm the poor of their hostility toward the rich; it prevents
being poor. ~Horace Mann

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. ~Harry S. Truman

Education should turn out the pupil with something he knows well and something he can do well. ~Alfred North Whitehead

Tell me and I forget; show me and I remember; involve me and I understand. ~Unknown

A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled. ~James Baldwin

We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bellyfull of words and do not know a thing. The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means of education. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper. ~Robert Frost

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell, where his influence stops. ~Henry B. Adams

Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well. ~Aristotle

I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well. ~Alexander The Great.

Young people can learn from my example that something can come from nothing. What I have become is the result of my hard efforts. ~Franz Joseph Haydn

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius. ~Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same. ~Franz Schubert

Real art is one of the most powerful forces in the rise of mankind, and he who renders it accessible to as many people as possible is a benefactor of humanity. ~Kodaly

May you continue to find value in what you do, and may the lives you influence fulfill the way your life is touched daily. I thank you for the opportunity to serve as your collegiate vice-president and for making the choice to teach.

Joe Parisi – MMEA Collegiate Vice President: 2006-2008