Every square is a rectangle

It is Geometry time in my class. We have spent the last few weeks talking about different shapes, their characteristics, calculating their areas and perimeters, and performing transformations on them. We have discussed at length why the statement "every square is a rectangle, but not all rectangles are squares." We followed that same discussion with other shapes as well. Seemed to help aid the discussion about different quadrilaterals.

This last week I also stumbled across this post from Starr Sackstein titled: Teachers vs. Educators. In this post, Starr discusses a Ted Talk she witnessed from a high school student about the difference between a teacher and an educator. Starr really had me thinking of the difference between these groups of people...

I think we can safely say that all Educators are Teachers, but not all Teachers are Educators. Every Educator does the following:
1. Works hard to present lessons daily.
2. Provides information to their students daily.
3. Challenges their students at their appropriate levels.
4. Completes all paperwork in an orderly manner.

What then is it that Educators do that not all teachers do? After some thought, here is my list:
1. Educators create a culture of learning in their room.
2. Educators connect with their students.
3. Educators hold discussions with their students outside of class.
4. Educators stay up late/wake up early worrying about their students.
5. Educators can not imagine doing anything else.

The last point I have spent a lot time hanging onto is the idea of Educators leaving a legacy after teaching for a long period of time. They touch an endless amount of lives whether they realize it or not. Educators create a legacy without realizing what they are creating. They do not realize what is going on because they are so focused on constantly improving themselves. It is through this improvement that a culture is created in their classroom.

I have a long list of educators that I have worked with over the years. I did not realize they were educators at the time until I began to change what I was doing to be more like them. Teachers come and go, but an Educator leaves something behind. Something that you can not necessarily put your finger on, but it is there. We do not know what it is, but we want to emulate them. We tuck things into our "mental folder" to use later in our own classrooms.

So, I guess my final question is: Are you a rectangle or a square? Also, if you have anything to add to the above lists, please do so.