I first want to start by saying thank you. Thank you for sharing your passion with me. Thank you for showing me that there is more to the world than the narrow scope we view it through. Thank you for teaching me, even when it wasn't easy, even when you didn't really want to. You do not realize the impact that you have had on me. I could go on and thank you for every little thing you have done for me, but I will just say thank you for everything, and hope you know exactly what I am trying to say.

I know that sometimes teaching can be frustrating, and you can have days where you don't want to deal with students, but the one thing I have always admired about you is your ability to smile every single day. You have no idea how much of a difference that made for each and every one of us. It made the rest of our struggling worth it. Knowing that we get to walk into your classroom and see you excited about what you were going to teach us that day made all of the difference. We became excited about what we were going to learn. There is nothing better than wanting to show up for a class every single day.

Your classes taught me more about English than any other class I have ever taken. I was genuinely excited about each book we read, even if we had to spend more time analyzing than reading. You taught me that sometimes we have to see the things the author didn't. Maybe the author just wanted the door to be blue, but as a reader we have to try to think even deeper and discover every little thing about every book. I have always struggled with this, but you made me slowly realize why we must do it. I also cannot thank you enough for forcing me to share my writing with the rest of the world. You made me face my fears head on, and it has truly changed me as a person.

I don't know if you realize, but you are a huge part of the reason I love to write. You solidified my passion for words, and taught me so much about the process, however painful it is. You showed me that there is no right way to create a scene, and that we all must go through our own struggles to get to the end. You made me realize that I don't actually suck, even if I think I do. I have no idea how you ever got me to share my fiction, but you did. I trusted you to share my most personal words. I think that is a testament to how great you are as a teacher and a human being.

I know I have already said this, but thank you. Thank you for making me realize that I cannot live without literature, and that there is no better therapy than creating your own world to escape to. Thank you for reading my endless drafts, and thank you for always being honest, even if I don't always love what you have to say. I know I haven't been in your classroom in a few years, but please know that it was one of the few places I felt safe enough to let go. I didn't have to feel bad that I don't know how to write a happy story, or that my poetry has this awful prose like trait that I can't seem to escape.

So I guess I just wanted to say thank you for helping me become the person I am today, and for teaching me more about myself than anyone else. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Your grateful student,

Hannah