>> I sometimes feel bad when I walk into a classroom,
because while the teacher just got the students to focus, and get ready to engage in the lesson,
I will open that door and all eyes will come to me and it's, "Doctor Rayburn!"
"You guys turn around!"
And to feel that moment where they had just got so excited about when I walked in,
and I get to see them throughout the day, and know that "I'm here
to see what you're doing", that's so rewarding.
And in all my years in this field, I have former students who are now in their careers,
and I bring them back at the beginning of the school year to talk
to my teachers during our professional development.
And I recall when I brought one of my first Kindergarten students in to share
that when she was a kindergartener in my class, she was living in a foster home.
And the time she came in she was a senior at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo,
on a full scholarship majoring in civil engineering.
She's now in the field up in San Francisco but her message to the teachers were that,
her love of school, regardless of the situations and circumstances she was living in,
was because of the teachers who believed in her and it started in her kindergarten experience.
And I love knowing that I have those stories and I have those students whose lives I've touched
and are out there now, making a difference.