On April 23rd this year, I received this message via the private messenger on Facebook:
I’m sure you don’t remember me. I was a student of yours 2010/2011.
And I remember your class the most. By far, one of my favorite teachers
with lessons I have carried into adulthood.
Thank you.
This message came to mind today when I was given a writing prompt to reflect on a time I received or gave a compliment.
I was reminded of a quote I ran across this past weekend by James W. Hall from his essay "Back to School." He says:
For there is embedded in the academic process the secret, unexpressed belief that these books, these tests, these lectures and discussions will add up to some changed condition,
an enrichment of the soul, and enlargement of the sense of human possibilities.
The best compliment I can ever receive from former students -- and I've had it a few times in my life, as evidence above -- is to be told that our class meant something to them in the life they are living now. From the girl that said she seemed to be the only one in her College Comp class that knew how to write a thesis statement, to the girl I only vaguely remember from the 2010-11 school year who messaged me recently, when a young person tells me that they can see how my class matters to them, well, that is the highest compliment I can be given. It means that my time spent choosing the right texts and the right activities and the right projects and discussions paid off.
It is why I teach.
Hall explains this in his essay:
We teachers are not simply trying to make a better widget, or sell a better product,
or design a better mousetrap. We are trying to re-create the world.
I believe in the world that can be created. And I relish my one small part in it.
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