What Will Your Students Remember About You?

As I was up feeding the baby last night, I started to think about school.  Not surprising for a teacher, right?  This time it was a little different though.  I really started thinking about what made each of my teachers in elementary school memorable.  I am very fortunate that the majority of my elementary school memories are positive ones, and I truly hope that I am able to give my own students positive memories as well!

I really don’t remember too many details from Kindergarten, but I know that my teacher was fabulous. Not only because I loved Kindergarten, but she was one that followed her students throughout their lives.  In high school, anytime my picture was in the newspaper for sports, she would write me a note or send a card, and mail it to our house.  Two years ago, she sent me this letter after giving my speech at the “Back to School Teacher Rally” for our school corporation.

I know that she did things like this for a lot of her students through the years!  Seriously amazing, and definitely memorable!

Something random that I remember from my 1st grade teacher was that she would write “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” on papers that she would grade.  Can you even imagine how long that would take to grade papers?  But….memorable!

 I could have sworn that I saved some of those papers in my baby book, but I could only find this letter that she had written.

A fun little side note.  My daughter is in 2nd grade, and my 4th grade teacher is now the 2nd grade writing teacher.  She sent home a certificate made out to my daughter, and her handwriting is still beautiful!

I know that as you get older, you remember more.  So, I’m sure that’s part of the reason why I can remember almost everything about 6th grade, but it may also have to do with the fact that I had THE BEST 6th grade teacher!

He related things to real life, and made learning so much fun! I can still remember our “classroom economy.”  Every year he had his class create a city. Our class voted on a name (Socracity, named after Socrates), and the name of our currency (Bubs).  Each person had to create a business in the city and work to earn money.  I owned a store with three other girls, and we sold perfume samples.  I can still remember dragging my mom through all of the department stores in the mall to collect perfume samples to sell.

Like I said, almost all of my elementary school memories are positive.  I do, however, remember a particular teacher that called me out in front of the class with a big red F on my paper.  I don’t remember if I had gotten them wrong, or if I didn’t finish, or what happened, but I was devastated, and so embarrassed.  Unfortunately, this is one of the few things that I remember from that year of school.  The rest of the year may have been fantastic, but that is the one lasting memory that I have.

I try to remember this things when I am teaching my students.  They will not remember most of the things that we do each day, but I hope that if they are able to remember just one thing, that it is a positive one.

So, my question to you is, what will your students remember about you?

Teachers have SUCH an important job, and many days, it can be overwhelming.  We have to always remember what is most important.  We did not go into teaching because we couldn’t wait to give tests and write lesson plans with our standards and objectives.  We went into teaching to make a difference in the lives of children.  We teach for those times when a student makes a connection, and understands a new concept.  We went into teaching for those days when our students say, “This was the best day, ever!”  We became teachers to TEACH children!

I want to thank all of my teachers that gave me such a positive school experience.  You have inspired me, and I hope to continue inspiring my students in the years to come.

This is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes, and I think it sums up this post perfectly.

How will you be remembered?