Thursday, January 12, 2012

Thank Your Teachers!



This blurry photo is of me in my first year of teaching, back in the Fall of 1972.  I can't believe that I have been teaching for almost forty years!

What prompted this reflection? 
This morning I received an online greeting from a student I taught back about 30 years ago, at a high school in Petersburg Virginia. She wrote:

I cannot tell you how many times I have thought of you over the years. I am glad to hear that you are doing well. I credit my love of writing to you. You seemed to take an interest and were kind enough to give a little praise. It made the biggest difference to me throughout my life.


She found me on her high school’s alumni association page.  It made my day!

I have been blessed in recent years to meet several of my former students again in the flesh – now that they are married and parents of grown children.  And, in turn, I have gone back to my own home town and visited one of my old teachers, and thanked him. So that makes three generations of gratitude.

Teaching is frequently a thankless job, simply because students are so involved in their own lives that they are not yet able to appreciate the work of their teachers. We teachers don’t expect to be thanked, and are immensely gratified when someone shows up after thirty or forty years to say that they remember .

6 comments:

Kathie Brown said...

Well, kudos to you for being a teacher! My Mother and grandmother were both teachers, and I have had many teachers influence my own life in both good ways and bad. I know how thankless the job can be. I have seen Mom and Nana working long after they have returned home correcting papers while they watched TV.

Thank you for your visit to my blog and the kind comments you left. They meant so much to me. I love the title of your blog. I hope you will stop by again.

Kathie Brown said...

Anne, I was just reading your profile and see that you are a cancer survivor. My Mother (the teacher) is currently fighting breast cancer. She is doing very well so far. This is a "club" I never thought I would join or she would join, but here we are and we are getting through it.

Marion said...

AMEN! I'm proud to say that both of my daughters are teachers. I had no idea how HARD it was to be a teacher until I listened to their experiences over the years. But neither of them would trade it for the world. Thank YOU for your many years as a teacher. God bless!

Summer Gypsy said...

Good morning!

Thanks so much for following Unshelved Words and for your kind comments. I took one look at Scattered Showers in a Clear Sky, and I knew that we are kindred spirits as teachers and lovers of the written word. So, having said that, I am now following you!

Have a fantastic Friday!

:)Marilyn

teacupsandpoodles said...

Dear Anne,
Thank you for stopping at Raspberry Dreams and leaving a comment. I am very glad to meet you and am looking forward to reading more of your blog!
Sincerely,
Mary Ann

NatureFootstep said...

40 years. That is a lot. Well done.