Goin' Papal

Whenever my card of the day is the Pope, I usually think of other people, wise people or teachers in my life or historical teachers that I might be currently reading about.  It might even be just some teachings without a specific person attached to them.

Today, that's not the case.  I look at the card and think of myself in my career as a teacher.  My eye is drawn to the fact that the Pope seems to be more in tune with one rather than the other.  Does he favor one over the other?  Is he more effective with one than the other? This has always been a problem for me.  Don't get me wrong:  I'm fair with respect to workload, grades, etc.  I want every student to succeed and have always been more of a "guide by the side rather than a sage on the stage"...long before that phrase became popular.  

The Pope reminds me to think about how I don't always know how to work with the students who are underprepared, overworked, and dealing with a host of non-class related issues.  What "sage advice" do I have to offer those students? It's so easy to teach those who are prepared.  But how can I be more of a true teacher for students whose lives are filled with all kinds of non-education related stress and struggles?