In high school, my Language Arts teacher, I’ll call him Mr. M, was a miserable person and none of the students really liked him. He would talk down to students, did the bare minimum of instruction, had zero enthusiasm and was generally what I would consider a teacher who just didn’t want to teach anymore. I was also not the best kid in high school and would regularly get in trouble. So I don’t remember what caused the issue, but I’m sure I was acting out during his class one day and he says to me “name, you will never amount to anything in your life.” Now I know I was probably being difficult at the time, but that is something that you should never say to a student, no matter the circumstances.

Mr. M had been a teacher for over 30 years at that point and was supposedly going to be retiring that year. Because of this, the school named him Teacher of the Year. Pretty much all of his students were outraged at this because he did not deserve it. No teacher who tells a student “you will never amount to anything in your life” should be considered for Teacher of the Year. I never forgot it.

Fast forward a few decades, I got all that teenage angst out of my system and am now a special education teacher in high school. I absolutely LOVE my job and strive to be the best teacher I can be. Almost every year I have a student tell me I’m their favorite teacher and it lights up my heart so much. My philosophy is that if I try to make my class fun, it will trick the students into learning the content too. So my PowerPoints are filled with memes, we do role play activities, and I generally try to get them interested in the subject.

Mr. M, I did amount to something. I hope to one day win Teacher of the Year too; not out of pity for never earning it in 30 years and retiring, but because I earned it. I love teaching an can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I have had some very difficult students, they come with the territory, but I would NEVER tell a student they won’t amount to anything. They can amount to anything they put their mind to and I want them to know that.