It's one of those little things they don't tell you when going through education classes in college. There's the ideal that you will influence young lives. But not only will you influence those young lives. You hope that you will know someway, somehow, that you influenced those lives. Then they come back to tell you about college, how your class impacted them once they got to college, the new things in their lives, and it feels good because you are important enough to them that they want to talk to you. They want to share with you. But what education profs don't tell you is that if you did your job right when those students were in your classroom your job doesn't stop once they leave your classroom.
The reminder of that came this summer when I got the first requests for letters of recommendation and help with college application essays. After my first year teaching an honors level class to juniors I knew that those requests (which have always been there) would start coming in more frequently.
It's not the part of the job that we teachers get paid for. We don't have to do it. We don't have to write letters of recommendation and we don't have to look at application essays to assist students with improving their essays. But if we care about our students, past and present, we do it. Why? Because our desire to see them succeed extends beyond what we are teaching them in the classroom. Because we care about them. Because even though we are not teaching them anymore we still have the ability to make a difference in their lives.
So now I have more essays to look at. I just hope that it helps them get where they want to go. Until tomorrow.
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