Every student thought that Chester was the best teacher ever.
He dazzled and delighted students as he helped them learn reading, writing, and arithmetic. And Chester, being an elephant, also had a stellar proclivity for teaching them memory tricks so that all that he taught them stayed in their minds.
Most important though, he made them feel as if there was nothing they couldn’t do. Whenever a student told Chester of some cherished ambition—dancing, drawing, playing the zither—he always gave the advice that stayed in their souls for the rest of their lives:
“Follow your dreams,” he always said, “and if you can’t exactly live them, get as close to them as possible.”
Teaching was Chester’s way of getting close to his dreams. His childhood wish had been to work as a traveling circus performer, but he had unfortunately knocked out his tusks in a skateboarding accident when he was a youngster. Sadly, the traveling circuses required elephants to have tusks so that they could help carry the heavy equipment from town to town. Chester, however, was not one to let setbacks get him down, so he eagerly learned the craft of performing in front of rambunctious students and getting them to love learning.
During the week that parents visited the class to discuss with students what they did for a living, one of the dads asked Chester if he could speak with him after school. The dad was a dentist, and specialized in crafting and implanting artificial teeth for people who had knocked them out during roller skating accidents. Because skateboards and roller skates were quite similar—and because the father was always eager to tackle an ambitious bit of dentistry—he offered to try and replace what Chester had so tragically lost.
Even with his new tusks, however, Chester could not leave the profession that he had grown to love, and the students begged him not to leave. So he stayed on at the school, and enthralled his classes with tales of summer vacations spent basking in audience applause while under the big top.
Soon other elephants were seeking out the dentist, and they helped him move his practice to much larger offices. He now helps many elephants who need cosmetic tusk replacement or reconstruction. This, in turn, has given numerous elephants the opportunity to live their dream of performing in traveling circuses across the world.
And after every show, these elephants always teach children the proper way to brush and floss. The children, needless to say, never forget these lessons.
He dazzled and delighted students as he helped them learn reading, writing, and arithmetic. And Chester, being an elephant, also had a stellar proclivity for teaching them memory tricks so that all that he taught them stayed in their minds.
Most important though, he made them feel as if there was nothing they couldn’t do. Whenever a student told Chester of some cherished ambition—dancing, drawing, playing the zither—he always gave the advice that stayed in their souls for the rest of their lives:
“Follow your dreams,” he always said, “and if you can’t exactly live them, get as close to them as possible.”
Teaching was Chester’s way of getting close to his dreams. His childhood wish had been to work as a traveling circus performer, but he had unfortunately knocked out his tusks in a skateboarding accident when he was a youngster. Sadly, the traveling circuses required elephants to have tusks so that they could help carry the heavy equipment from town to town. Chester, however, was not one to let setbacks get him down, so he eagerly learned the craft of performing in front of rambunctious students and getting them to love learning.
During the week that parents visited the class to discuss with students what they did for a living, one of the dads asked Chester if he could speak with him after school. The dad was a dentist, and specialized in crafting and implanting artificial teeth for people who had knocked them out during roller skating accidents. Because skateboards and roller skates were quite similar—and because the father was always eager to tackle an ambitious bit of dentistry—he offered to try and replace what Chester had so tragically lost.
Even with his new tusks, however, Chester could not leave the profession that he had grown to love, and the students begged him not to leave. So he stayed on at the school, and enthralled his classes with tales of summer vacations spent basking in audience applause while under the big top.
Soon other elephants were seeking out the dentist, and they helped him move his practice to much larger offices. He now helps many elephants who need cosmetic tusk replacement or reconstruction. This, in turn, has given numerous elephants the opportunity to live their dream of performing in traveling circuses across the world.
And after every show, these elephants always teach children the proper way to brush and floss. The children, needless to say, never forget these lessons.
