A Blast from the Past

Last spring I received an email from a former student.  I saw him last 20 years ago when I was his third grade teacher.  I remembered him! (Thank You, Jesus.  Because wouldn't it be embarrassing to admit that you didn't remember a former student?)  And in his email he was telling me that I was one of his best teachers mainly because of the writing teaching that I did.  Made my day.  So, I emailed him back.  In a surprising turn of events I discovered that he has gone back to school to become a school librarian and he was surprised to discover that was what I do.  I told him if I could help him out, let me know.

Then I received an email this summer from my principal.  Would I have a student teacher, named this former student.  Well, yes.  But, then I got to thinking.  He is probably taller than I am these days.  I doubt he is the curly haired bespeckled boy I recall, at all.  And then there is me--20 years older, at the end of my career and not the bright young innovator I once was.  So, now I am nervous.  I hope that it works out.  I have always wanted a student teacher.

I have been blessed to have received more than 2 contacts with former students who praised my teaching.  I am sure that I am not the best teacher on the planet and others probably deserve more praise than I do, but it was nice to have received it.  I would guess that if I had any impact it was because I always care for my kids.  I always want to be at least as good a teacher as I would want my own kid to have.  I try to remember that I belong to Christ and to bring that love with me.  I don't always succeed, but I always try.

And I will end this by saying--if you had a really good teacher or your kids had one, a little note or letter, especially one after that teacher no longer has that student, is golden.