A couple of nights ago, I had just finished reading my assignment for the Bible study my small group is doing when my phone dinged, indicating I had an email.
I popped on over to my inbox and nearly deleted what I thought was spam. I’d been getting quite a lot of it lately (I think my school’s email filter was broken).
Thank heavens I stopped myself after seeing a glimpse of the contents on the preview screen.
Here is the email, in full…
Note the smartly placed ❤ to protect the innocent. 🙂
The student who sent this email is the same precious young lady who penned the uplifting words you might remember reading in this post I wrote the last day of school.
As I read the email above, I started crying, so touched by her thoughtfulness.
I am well-entrenched in my summer routine, I’m not going to lie.
I am loving my lazy summer days that allow me to wake up when I want, pee whenever I need, and, in general, indulge my every whim.
It’s hard to imagine that I’ll be venturing back to my classroom in a few short weeks to begin preparing for my new batch of students.
My student’s email was a timely reminder of the reason why I teach.
In her own words (note that she uppercased the word READING, which she loathed to do last year), I impacted her life.
The wonderful thing about teaching is that I get to do this year after year, with countless students.
Her email energized me and gave me a renewed focus.
Instead of dreading August 1st, my self-imposed “Day to Begin Planning” (even though I won’t officially report to work for a couple of weeks after that), I find myself looking forward to it.
Oh, that’s not to say that I’m not going to enjoy the rest of July, but I’m fighting the pull to begin mapping out my first couple of weeks of school. In fact, I saw the administrator in charge of Guidance on Thursday when I ran into school for something, and he jokingly said that he was sure I had the first semester planned out. heehee
As teachers, our goal is to lead students to internalize their education…to take ownership of it and the ways they learn. Usually, it’s years before they appreciate those who led them down this path.
For the above young lady who has touched my heart so deeply, this process has been accelerated. She’s so mature…so self-aware…so conscious of what’s going on around her.
I am grateful for this sweet student, and I cannot wait to hug her neck and tell her thank you in person when the new year begins.
AuburnChick's Adventures 
You have made an impact on this young woman – kudos!