I am starting this blog more than halfway through the school year. I am in the midst of my second year teaching 5th grade in a public school in an urban area. I am amazed by how much I can love my students and yet how much my work can consume me. There have been struggles I've endured this year that have made me want to just stay home in bed and sleep through everything.
Not knowing where to begin this blog, I am starting with a letter I received from one of my students about a month ago. This letter has helped sustain me as a teacher. It was given to me on a Monday morning after I'd missed the last two days of the previous week (for health issues). My student wrote the letter in different colored pens and decorated all of the space on the edges. She even created an oragami heart, which she decorated, and then stapled to the bottom of the letter. The letter reads:
Dear Ms. H,
I just want to tell you that I appreciate everything that you've done for me. Not just as a student but as a person. You are a great teacher Ms. H and you don't deserve to be treated with disrespect. I'm gonna do my best to behave better in school. You go above and beyond what teachers are supposed to do with their students. You go to the tournaments and games if your students have any. I appreciate the fact that you have the patience to talk to me calmly and softly. Even when I get attitudes with you, you still talk to me nicely. I think that you are the best teacher in the whole universe. You deserve a lot of respect. Ms. H you are the only teacher I have who I can talk to about anything. If I have a problem you make it all better. I appreciate all that you do for me. When I'm in 6th grade I'm really going to miss you. I won't be able to have anyone to talk to anymore, but if they let me I'll visit you. You are the only teacher I know who I can talk to about anything and everything. You are the best teacher ever and I will never forget you Ms. H.
I am beginning this blog with this letter because I love this student and want to believe that she is right about me. I want to believe that I make a difference in a way that will endure as my students grow older and encounter their own myriad of challenges.
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can that student write me a letter, too? =) i would put it up on my fridge ... or maybe wear it. if i could.
ReplyDeleteNice to read, you are an outstanding teacher
ReplyDeleteWow. Think about how many times you wrote a letter like that to a teacher (for me, the number is zero) and how much it takes to get a kid to write it. You're really having an impact.
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