You don't know me yet. One day you'll walk into my classroom, chattering with your friends, all aglow with the excitement of the first day of school. You'll watch me smile at you from the front of the classroom and then the bell will ring and I'll settle you down, and introduce myself.

Hi. I am your future teacher.

You don't know me yet, and I don't know you, but I can't wait to meet you. I can't wait to find out what you love, and to watch your individual personalities shine through your assignments. I can't wait to see how you'll react to the novels we'll read together, or to read how you speak about them in your papers. I can't wait to watch you learn, and in turn, to learn with you.

It'll be years before we meet each other. Some of you that I will meet are not even yet born. And even though I don't know your names, or your faces, or your personalities, or your novel reactions, and even though I can't even guess at any of it, I want to make you some promises, right here, right now, of the kind of teacher I will be.

I promise to expect respect from you, but to respect you as well in return. I want us all to work together in my classroom, to learn from each-other, and I believe that can only happen if we work with a system of mutual respect. So if you respect me, and follow my rules and treat me kindly, I will respect you. I will respect your right to be treated like the young-adults you are. I will respect your right to be free thinkers. I will respect if you need a deadline extension, or a day of no participation, if you are respectful to be honest with me about needing one. I will respect your hard-work and return your assignments to you in a timely fashion. If we respect each other I promise you that we can all learn to the best of our abilities.

I promise to let you think freely. I promise to never shut-down your ideas. I promise to view every idea you have as potentially great, and to listen to how you support it. If you want to tell me that Hamlet is about aliens, and you can support it well, I'll give you a good grade. English is subjective and there is never a wrong answer. I promise to always run my lessons with that in mind. I promise to let you say whatever you believe and to learn from your wonderful imaginings.

I promise to let you have a say in what you learn. I promise never to dictate but to let you participate in conversations, and to let you be the decision makers in group discussions. If we're discussing Jane Eyre, it's up to you what part of the novel we'll talk about. You all should have the opportunity to learn what you want to learn in order to learn to the fullest extent, and I promise to make your lessons enjoyable by letting you choose what you learn.

I promise to make my classroom more than a classroom. My class should be more than a class to you. It should be a learning community and a second home, one we can all benefit from. So I promise to give you fun projects, and to have days that have nothing to do with our curriculum. I promise to sing to you on your birthday and to be there if you need someone to talk to. I promise to give you quiet parties on the days before holidays, and to play games to review for tests. I promise to show you movies and TV shows that connect to our lessons, and to play music while we're working independently. I promise to make your classroom a community.

I promise all of this my dears and I promise you everything else specific that I could not possibly list out in a sensible amount of time. I promise to be there with every rise and fall, and to help you through every one. I promise to teach you everything I can in every way possible. I promise to love you and support you in all your endeavors. I promise to cheer you on both in and out of the classroom. I promise to never give up on you. I promise to get-to-know you and figure out exactly what you need to learn. I promise it all, and I promise so much more, and I promise all the promises that I haven't even begun to dream yet, that I will learn as I meet each one of you.

And I promise, above all, to be the best I can be.

Love, your future tutor, leader, mentor, cheerleader and friend- your future English teacher.