Memorial Day for Teachers
Over the Memorial Day holiday, I couldn’t help thinking of all the teachers who have influenced my life. When we are remembering those who have served their country, what about teachers?
I bet you can name at least one who had a profound influence on you. Maybe they inspired you to be more than you thought possible. Maybe their “difficult” personality rubbed you the wrong way and you resolved to “show them.” Either way, those individuals probably had more effect on your life than they will ever know.
Have you ever gone back to find them, to tell them how you turned out?
If I could find kindly old Mrs.Tinker, I’d tell her that I finally figured out which emoji image was happy, which was sad, and which was angry. That was the toughest part of first grade for me.
If I could find Mrs. Fertell, I’d tell her that I’ll never forget that she said I have the prettiest handwriting in our 4th grade class. I still take pride in forming my letters (unless I’m typing).
If I could find Mr Ozaroski, I’d thank him for persuading me to run for 6th grade class President. I lost by one vote, but it was the first time anyone told me I had leadership potential.
If I could find Miss Cassidy, I’d tell her
that being in her 10th grade English class
with her love of literature inspired me to become an English teacher.
If I could find Scotty Maxwell, I’d thank him for his patience with a first year teacher just learning how to design lesson plans.
My list goes on, of course. Who would be on your list? Who would you like to thank?
I am in for a treat. Just last week, a former student reached out to me. Her email said, “I don’t know if you remember me, but I was your advisee at Towson University. Now I’m a Special Education Coordinator.”
We’ve scheduled a call for tomorrow. I’ll ask her what she remembers about me as a teacher and why she reached out now. We’ll both have an opportunity to walk down memory lane and share gratitude for some teaching memories.
As usual, I’d love to hear from you -- your memories or gratifying stories of students who came back.
