When Daniel Santos accepted his first teaching assignment in a small public high school, he carried with him only three things that he considered indispensable: a leather briefcase, a fountain pen given by his father, and a thick, well-worn English dictionary. The dictionary had accompanied him throughout his college years. Its pages were marked with handwritten notes, underlined definitions, and folded corners that testified to countless evenings spent studying the English language. To Daniel, words possessed remarkable power. They had the ability to persuade, to comfort, to inspire, and to transform lives. That belief had led him to become an English teacher.