At the close of my senior year of college, I am very familiar with the response I get from others when I tell them that I am becoming a high school English teacher. I often get gasps and the occasional wince. Many people say, “I hated English in high school, why would you want to do that?” or “You’re so smart you should do something that matters." I think for educators across the board, we can all agree that when it comes to teaching as a profession, we are certainly unappreciated.

What is crazy to me is that every moment in my life that mattered was because it was a moment that I learned something. So now that I am almost finished with college I’ve been thinking about what I have learned and where I learned it from. What is funny is that out of all the things I learned and all the people I have met, one person stands out in my mind. Not only was she my high school English teacher but she is also the woman who has been my mentor throughout my pre-teacher program. For all those who wonder what we learn from our English teachers, here is what I learned from mine.

Never judge a book by its cover. This might seem like a pretty obvious metaphor, however, there’s a lot to be said about this statement. I always enjoyed reading as a kid but I typically didn’t pick up a book unless I liked the way it looked. Needless to say, being forced to read certain books in high school makes you realize that sometimes your preconceived notions are wrong. My English teacher taught me more than that, though. She always made me see beyond the surface by asking questions that opened my eyes to the world around me. Whether it was a book, situation or person, this teacher showed me that what is inside is what really matters.

Get to know what you don’t understand. Whenever I heard the word ‘Shakespeare’ I always thought of something really dated and foreign. So when she told us that we were studying Hamlet, I hit the panic button. When she began teaching it she told us about the story and explained it in terms we could understand. I was so captivated by this amazing story that I went out and bought my own copy. As I sat home studying the complex lines of Shakespearean English I realized that even though the language was different, the human emotion, experience and struggle was very much the same. It made me realize that in life we might come across things that seem foreign that we don’t understand, but we need to get to know it to realize that it’s really not all that different.

You are unique and that is okay. Prior to her class, every student did the same assignment and there was very little room to be different. I’ll never forget the day in her class that she assigned our final assignment for the book we were reading. There were many different categories and we each had the choice of picking three. The categories ranged from songs and comic strips to essay responses and story books. The fact that we actually were able to choose what assignment we wanted to do was incredible to me. The assignment taught me that I didn’t have to do the same thing as everyone else and that I could do what fit for me.

What goes on in your life actually matters. Many people don’t realize this but being in high school can be one of the most difficult stages in life. In many ways, high school kids don’t have a voice because they are too old to be babied but too young to make any real decisions. It can often feel like what you are going through doesn’t really matter. My English teacher was always there to listen to me when I needed to talk and showed me how writing could be a way to create beauty out of experience. For the first time, what I saw and what I thought actually mattered.

You are never done learning. Maybe this was silly but I always thought that after college you were done learning. My high school English teacher taught me that you were never done learning. Even though we were the students and she was the teacher she let us know that she was learning right alongside us. She said we taught her more about herself, English and life everyday.

Always follow your passion. Interestingly enough I didn’t start college as an English major; I originally was studying math. Even though I was good at both I was doing math because that was what everyone had told me to do. This teacher was the first person who made me feel fully confident that it was okay to follow my passion. I am incredibly thankful she did because doing what fills your soul is far greater than doing what everyone wants you to do.

You see, being an English teacher is something that actually does matter. So I guess the real question is, “Why on Earth would you not want to teach?”.