Why I Teach

"Why do you teach, Pete'" Simple enough question, but an incredibly challenging one to answer. Peter Beidler, in the most thoughtful and honest of ways, delivers his answer in this special book. Read his words and you will have the opportunity to stop and reflect on life, contemplate why you do the thing you do, and rediscover where your life takes on meaning. In the essay, Beidler writes about lifelong learning through teaching, innovative teaching methods, and how teaching is rewarded continuously as former students go on to do good and useful things.Beidler says, "I teach because, being around people who are beginning to breathe, I occasionally find myself, quite magically, catching my breath with them." This book will inspire anyone who reads it. This is a wonderful keepsake to cherish and the perfect gift for any teacher, past or present, who deserves to be thanked and commemorated.

Peter G. Beidler is the Lucy G. Moses Distinguished Professor English at Lehigh University. He and his wife Anne live in the countryside near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.