To those teachers who wonder if you're making a difference...

ingleshteechur - 2011-09-26 4:21 PM I know many of us on BT are teachers.  Like many of you, I have days where I wonder if what I do makes a bit of difference.  Well, I have my answer. In the last two weeks I've had two former students come down to my classroom with big bouquets of flowers and even bigger smiles to say "thank you".  I teach 8th grade.  The first student is now 22, has completely done a 180 in his life and came to tell me thank you for seeing the potential he had way back in 8th grade.  The other  student is now 18. I also had him in 8th grade, but coached him in cross country for three years.  He just finished Marine boot camp and came in today to tell me that I was the voice in his head that got him through many a grueling training session.  Wow.  I am speechless for the second time in two week.  Doesn't happen often!    Just goes to show, they are listening, they do hear us and we are making a difference.

Excellent!

I went to a pretty special school K-12, and I and most of the people who went to school there are still in touch with many of our teachers.

But I'd wager that most people in the world still have, at least, that one favorite teacher they remember and what a difference that one (or a few) made.

Thanks, Kim, and all our BT teachers for being that one

Always good to hear!

I have thanked a teacher that recently retired - he was a major impact on my life with keeping me interested in track and wanting to do my best.

It truly is something special to be able to influence someone's life in such a positive way. 

Even though my dad retired from both teaching and coaching a decade ago, I still can't go anywhere with the man without a former student wanting to stop and say 'Hi' to him.  It warms my heart every time. 

JWKMH was a French teacher.  One of the special things that happens with French is that there is usually only one teacher for all levels at a school.  Her first school was a small parochial school in Virginia that was grades 7 to 12.  In Oak Ridge, J started teaching in the middle school then moved to the high school.  She had some students for as much as 6 years in both places so she knew them very well.  She finds those students who followed her into teaching French the most gratifying.  She also has a couple who use their foreign language skills working for multi-national companies.  Those students from the first years of teaching were only 4 or 5 years younger than she.  Nowadays, some of those students are in their 50's too and are more like contemporaries.  It is a very cool thing to see how it all worked out.

TW

I absolutely loved my gym teacher in elementary school and my swim coaches all thru high school and college.  I graduated as a Phys ed teacher and taught swimming and other water sports most of my life.

My students may forget me, but they will never forget what I taught them

As a children's sports coach I echo this statement.  If my athletes look back 20-30 years from now and remember that their first ski racing coach taught them to love the sport and respect themselves and each other as teammates then I'll be a happy camper. 

I am not a teacher, but I have talked to my high school teachers that made a difference, and I have also been lucky enough to move back to my home town and have my children go to a small school and have some of my teachers.  After my kids have now both graduated high school, I have talked again to those teachers and thank them for their hard work with my daughters.

As a youth sports coach for many years while growing up, I have been stopped by some of them that have graduated college, and they will still call me coach, and talk to me and thank me.  Been invited to some of their weddings also, so some of them really tell you that you made a difference in their life.