Hearing their personal opinions about what is most valuable in education helped me consider what I find most valuable in becoming the teacher I want to become. I realized that I appreciate students more. They are the factor that changes every lesson plan and they are the ones that alter the needs of my classroom. Therefore, it is how I interact with students that becomes the factor in determining what kind of teacher I will become. I was talking to a friend the other day and he was telling me about his experience when he went horseback riding for the first time. He remembered that it was when he was on horseback, zigzagging through neighbors' yards and all over the streets (they transported the horse at great expense to his pasture 5 miles away) that he realized there was no way for him to be prepared to ride that horse until he actually saddles it and takes advantage of it. Life is like that in many ways as plans change and people come in and out of your life. We can never be fully prepared for the kinds of experiences we will face in the future, but we can have a plan for who we want to aspire to be. We are given free will so that we can act rather than suffer. We can achieve excellence and also help others, including students, achieve as well