Recognize the best teachers
They arrive via email without a teacher’s note, but we confess to looking forward to them like the last day of school.
We’re talking about letters to the editor from teenagers, students at or near the end of their high school careers with a big, exciting, scary future dawning before them.
You’re getting a sampling of these annual letters from Lake City High School students today. We encourage you to read them all for the gratitude expressed, the occasional regret and the sincere suggestions offered to incoming high schoolers.
To whomever “encourages” the students to write these letters, thank you. As we’re sure you know, you’re opening a window not just for tens of thousands of readers to get a glimpse of the modern student mind and heart at work, but for those students to connect in a tangible, meaningful way with their community.
Praise for good teachers has value, now more than ever because of the scrutiny they’re constantly under and the almost universal criticism they bear. Particularly poignant is the letter today from a high school student who reaches back to a third-grade teacher who essentially changed the student’s life for the better. Those of us who have been ex-students for years have no trouble remembering the life-changers whose lessons stick with us today. The average teachers, or those below average? Gone with the wind of time. But the great ones? Embraced and immortalized.
We’ve heard stories and even experienced a few in which a once-upon-a-time student returns to the scene of an excellent education, seeks out the teacher who meant so much, and in no uncertain terms explains how he or she changed that student’s life. We need more of that these days. In fact, we need a special mantel of recognition for those who set students firmly but lovingly on the course of lifelong learning.
So here’s an invitation for parents, grandparents and students. Help recognize the best of the best. With parental help for the younger ones and older students on your own, when you’ve completed a school year and experienced a remarkable teacher, write about it. Who and where is this teacher? Why was this teacher different from most? How did she or he help make you better, as a student and maybe even as a person?
Post it on Facebook. Email it to this newspaper for the broadest local recognition possible.
What we’ve learned is that your encouraging words can pay dividends for years to come. Your words will set a high bar for all teachers in our community, and they’ll nurture further confidence and optimism in teachers already well ahead of the pack, guaranteeing similar great results for the students who follow you.