我教书，是因为我喜爱校历的步调。六月、七月和八月这三个月的暑假提供了一个思考、研究和创作的机会。
我教书，是因为教学是建立在变化基础上的职业。虽然教材还是原来的不变，但我自身却变了，更重要的是，我的学生变了。
我教书，是因为我喜欢有让自己犯错的自由，喜欢自己吸取教训的自由，喜欢激励自己和激励学生的自由。作为教师，我可以自行做主。如果我想要求一年级学生通过自己编写课本的方法来学习写作，谁会说我不能那样做呢?这样的课程也许会彻底失败，但我们都可以从失败中获得教益。
我教书，是因为我喜欢提出学生必须绞尽脑汁方能回答的问题。我们这个世界充满了对付拙劣问题的正确答案。我在教学过程中，有时也发现了一些好的问题。
所以说，教书让生活变得有节奏、丰富多彩；教书向我提出了挑战，也给了我不断学习的机会。
然而，我教书最重要的理由是，我的学生在我面前成长、发展、变化。有些学生成了成就斐然的博士，找到了好工作；有些对城市贫民发生了兴趣，当了维护公民权力的律师；有些决定读完高中后继续上大学。
教书还带来了超越金钱和权力以外的东西：那便是爱。不仅是爱学习、爱书本、爱思想，还有老师对出类拔萃的学生的爱。这样的学生走进了老师的生活，开始成长起来。爱这个字也许用得不恰当，说是魔力也许更为贴切。
英文译文：
i teach because i like the pace of the academic calendar. june, july, and august offer an opportunity for reflection, research and writing.
i teach because teaching is a profession built on change. when the material is the same, i change--and, more important, my students change.
i teach because i like the freedom to make my own mistakes, to learn my own lessons, to stimulate myself and my students. as a teacher, i'm my own boss. if i want my freshmen to learn to write by creating their own textbook, who is to say i can' t? such courses may be huge failures, but we can all learn from failures.
i teach because i like to ask questions that students must struggle to answer. the world is full'of right answers to bad questions. while teaching, i sometimes find good questions.
so teaching gives me pace and variety, and challenge,and the opportunity to keep on learning.
however, the most important reasons why i teach are that my students grow up and change in front of me. some have become doctoral students with excellent success and found good jobs; some have become interested in the urban poor and served as civil rights lawyers; some have decided to finish high school and go to college.
but teaching offers something besides money and power.it offers love. not only the love of learning and of books and ideas, but also the love that a teacher feels for that rare student who walks into a teacher's life and begins to breathe.perhaps love is the wrong word., magic might be better.
i teach because, being around people who are beginning to breathe, i occasionally find myself catching my breath with them.