Day job: teacher night job: poet

When a bad day makes you forget why you started teaching in the first place, get inspired with teacher come poet Taylor Mali's poem "What Teachers Make." Mali taught for nine years before he began to express his passion and frustrations about the teaching profession through the written and spoken word. He has since become world renown by competing in poetry slams and has won the National Poetry Slam Championship four times. Mali was also awarded the Jury Prize for Solo Performance at the 2001 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival for his one-man show, "Teacher! Teacher!" In "What Teachers Make," Mali describes the invaluable difference teachers make on a daily basis: "I make kids wonder, I make them question, I make them criticize ... I make a goddamn difference." You can read Mali's poems at www.taylormali.com.

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