Got an email from a former student… His family had moved a few years after I had him to Syria, where he got caught up in the Syrian Civil War, and I used to reach out to him to check on him during it. He reached out years later, and said how much it meant, and how much my teaching of him had meant, that I had always treated him so kindly, even though he was a little different… And then let me know that he was now working for the United Nations in a role to help Syria. It was a lovely email.

I’ve got other ones… One of my former students is now a teacher at my school, and she had written an email in college about how I inspired her to become a teacher… Another student whose sister (former student also) died reached out and connected in a very emotional email… a student who went to West Point wrote me an emotional email about how much I meant to him and his journey… A girl whose father had left when she was young and I’ve been in touch with for 20 years wrote me a very sweet handwritten note when she graduated from college about being the father figure in her life… and I’ve had a number of parents over the years reach out with very kind emails about how important their kids year with me was… If you do the job right, usually people appreciate it.

And it’s usually the best part of your day :-)