Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away. This is one of those breath-taking moments that have kept me in my classroom for the past 32 years. — Dave Miller, Davis High

The UEA plans to restart the original project, sending out another e-mail that asks teachers to answer the same question � Why do you teach? Berryessa wants to create a partnership with the state's superintendents to do the project on a broader scale. "If they're willing, then we could get school boards to ask principals and faculties to participate in this project," says Berryessa. "We want every school building in the state to have these posters."

Why such enthusiasm for the project?

"It will boost the morale of our teachers and make people more cognizant of the caring teachers we have out there," Berryessa explains. "A lot of teachers told me that it felt good to stop and focus on why they did this (teaching) in the first place � why they became a teacher. It helped them to remember."

One night I walked into the local store, and a student who had given me the greatest challenge of my career came up to me and said, "I don't know if you remember me or not (and I did the moment he said his name and fear crept over me wondering what he had in mind for me). I just want you to know that I have changed and I am sorry for how I acted in your class and treated you. I hope you will forgive me." Those are the moments that keep me teaching. I literally cannot afford to keep going as a teacher. With five kids and a huge mortgage payment and bankruptcy to boot, I can't keep going. But I do it anyway, just for the sheer fact that I love what I do, and I feel I make a difference in a young person's life. — Bill Beck, Joel P. Jensen Middle School