Dear teacher,
I know your job was to teach me calculus, but you taught me so much more than that, so for that I say "thank you." In calculus, you would challenge us to understand how we got an answer rather than memorizing an equation. Though this was very helpful for my grade in calculus, it has been key to my success outside your class. It has shown me not to just survive, going through life in thoughtless motions, but to actually live and to learn as I go along. Thank you for loving the subject you taught so much -- it made it easier to learn and showed me how to be passionate about learning.
Thank you for taking 10 minutes out of class to read some of your favorite passages and for teaching us that there is so much more to life than understanding calculus and getting good grades. Thank you for letting Truth be the foundation of your thoughts and words; it radiated light even in the darkest of times. Thank you for treating me like a person, not just your student, and for coming to sporting events or choir concerts after school when you weren’t getting paid; it has taught me the importance of investing in people. Thank you for respecting me, for treating me like an adult, not a just student who is confused in class.
Thank you for laughing with us when needed and for grieving with us when life was too hard to handle. Thank you for pushing me past what my limits of capabilities; it taught me to live life as though I can do anything I set my mind to. Thank you for staying late after school to give me advice when I needed it. Thank you for not disappearing after I graduated and for asking me how college is going.
It has been a few years since I was in your classroom, but as I continue on, I still remember you. I remember the message you left. You have spoken deeply. I am in college now and I have decided to go into education because I hope I can change someone’s life the way you changed mine. You are a professor now, and I am deeply envious of your students. I am jealous that I don’t have you as a teacher anymore and that your new students get to see you every week and hear the Truth you speak beyond the subject you are teaching.
Thank you for sharing and living out the words written in "The Little Prince": “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” You have touched the future by the way you teach. Your words ignite hope and passion within souls. You spark a love of learning beyond the classroom. You changed my life and I am forever grateful.
Sincerely,
A student
