Beth Bales: Take Time to Thank a Teacher Who Made a Difference

Mr. Griffith, who in seventh grade unlocked the mystery of decimals. Mr. Reed, who in sixth grade suggested I should consider writing as a career goal. Mrs. Wright, who helped me enter an essay contest sponsored by our hometown newspaper, which I won that year and for several more. Miss Lane, who turned indecipherable letters into Dick, Jane and Sally. And many others along the way.

They’re teachers who made a difference in my life. 

It’s . Time to thank, even mentally, those teachers who had an impact in our lives, or our kids’ lives. 

And just in the past few months, two of my three kids have mentioned teachers who made a difference for them. 

“Thank God for Mr. (Paul) Thill,” one daughter said via text message. He’d taught her grammar and how to write, among other critical skills; several fellow students appeared not to have been so blessed. In fact, she added that "Mr. Thill should consider teaching at the college level if, as a senior in college, I’m still being instructed to write in complete sentences.”

E-mail him and tell him, I told her. He’d love it. Whenever any of the three girls has mentioned something about how today had been influenced by yesterday, I say, tell the teacher. He/she would love it. (And that influence can be incredibly long-lasting. In a conversation several months ago the girls were talking about their most influential teachers. One was from second grade.) 

Last week another daughter had occasion to thank another teacher. Her communications class was discussing apathy on college campuses, with a guest speaker focused on young people’s social apathy.

“He spent an hour telling us how much debt we are going to be in after we get out of college, that we won't be able to find jobs to pay it off and that we know nothing of our political system, or what's wrong with it. He also frequently referenced the book, The Dumbest Generation, which says that the country is basically broken and my generation is far too incompetent to ever dream of fixing it,” my daughter eventually wrote Matthew Hahn, her Advanced Placement government teacher.

Increasingly annoyed, she finally raised her hand and “kindly informed him he was gravely mistaken.” She knew all about , the high unemployment rate for her generation, that John Boehner is Speaker of the House and more. (She also suggested that if her generation is expected to fix the country, “people should probably stop calling us dumb.”)

After class, her teacher told her she should thank whoever helped to make her so aware.

And so, she did. He not only wrote her back, he showed the note to two other of her former teachers, who also wrote her notes. As a parent, how can you not love that ongoing connection? As a teacher, how can you not love that what you taught someone stayed with him or her? 

Before this week is out, perhaps we can all think of a couple of teachers who taught us something useful, who unlocked a door, who encouraged us, who spurred us to think a little more critically or more deeply. 

And, even if it’s only in our own minds, thank them.