One brilliant kid grows up and cures AIDS. Another brilliant kid grows up and becomes the Unabomber. Why? You know why. You teach standard mainstream fourth grade. And your favorite student comes in without the homework again. “Actually,” he says, “I forgot. Really, I should...

Who was your favorite teacher? When you were younger, who helped shape your mind, your views, who nurtured and fed your thirst for knowledge? Most of us, maybe all of us, had a teacher who inspired us— that teacher made us think, made us feel, made us want to learn. This teacher, this person,...