Throw back to your class a few years ago. I honestly dreaded showing up every day, listening to your lecture, completing your assignments and, even worse, taking your tests.

Your tests were ridiculously hard. No matter how many times I stayed after school and asked for help or went for tutoring, I was still confused and still struggling. I worked so hard in your class, and at the end, I disliked you because no matter what I did, my grade was never the perfect A I so badly wanted it to be.

Fast forward, and here I am thanking you. Your class challenged me, and because I was constantly striving to do better, I was actually learning. All of those times I kept rereading the textbook and staying after school, I was learning more and more. Because of you, I know what it takes to give something your all and still not have things work out the way you planned. Your class taught me several valuable things, and even though I thought I hated you at the time, your class was one of the best things that happened to me. For all of the times I complained about your class, here are five things I learned from you:

1. You're not the worst teacher ever because your class was hard.

If anything, you're the opposite. Even though I hated you at the time, I was actually learning something from your class, which is something I cannot say about all classes I have taken.

2. I learned the most from the most difficult class.

All of those hours I put into doing additional worksheets, rereading the textbook and studying weeks in advance paid off. At the end of the year, I was surprised with how much I learned, especially because I did not have the best grade in your class.

3. Success is not defined by a letter grade.

I'm not going to lie and say that seeing an A does not mean you're not successful, but sometimes no work is put into receiving an A. Sometimes, you put in the most work and effort and get a C.

4. I would rather do worse in a class and learn than learn absolutely nothing and receive an A.

I still remember almost everything I learned in your class, and I still apply some of it to classes I'm taking now. What you taught me has stuck with me the last few years, and I hope that when I'm a teacher, my students will remember what I taught them.

5. You have to work for what you want.

Yes, I wanted that A so badly. And even though I did not end up getting it, I kept working harder and harder until I got closer to reaching it. In the end, I realized that I wanted to understand what I was learning more than I wanted an A in your class.

Looking back, I'm sorry I hated you for doing absolutely nothing wrong. When students aren't doing as well as they want to in school, the first person they blame is the teacher; it's in our nature. Now, I am thankful for your class and what it not only taught me about the course material, but also about myself. You are the teacher I aspire to be.