I'm a pretty motivated person. But sometimes, after working 14-hour days and spending all my time in meetings, on email and putting together budgets and hiring plans and not spending time with kids, sometimes I forget why it is I do what I do. That's why I am grateful for our Teaching Fellows and their students, and how they ground me in the purpose of our work.

This week, I've invited a guest blogger, Huang Songbin, a first-year teacher who grew up just down the street from one of our current placement schools, to share with us what fuels his fire. I had the chance to hang out with Songbin a couple weeks ago and a quick dinner turned into 2+ hours of conversation. The reality is, if Songbin was a kid right now, his teachers would likely be Teach For China teachers-- he grew up just down the street from one of our schools in Guangdong Province. Neither of his parents received much schooling and his three brothers all dropped out early as well. There were times when he lost motivation to move on, but it was because of encouraging teachers who ensured he stayed on track to go on to one of the top colleges in the the country.

I asked Songbin what made him decide to choose Teach For China and teach in a small school in the mountains when he had much more lucrative opportunities with prestigious companies knocking on his door after graduation (The 2200 RMB that our teachers receive as starting teachers isn't much, even in rural China...). Opportunities that would likely help provide even more for his parents and brothers. His answer was that it was his responsibility and want to serve children much like him and have an impact on society today.

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