gratitude

John Steinbeck nailed it when he said “a great teacher is a great artist…teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.” This is why many teachers often receive little thank-you trinkets and treats. I specifically remember giving out those red foil chocolate roses to some of my teachers. Remember those?

Then again, sometimes nothing quite encapsulates immense gratitude like a handwritten note. As the school year came to a close, one mom began writing a personalized thank-you card to her daughter Mia’s second grade teacher, filled with all the things Mia specifically appreciated about her this year.

The mom was not only "completely touched” by the amount of good things Mia had to say (“I never get much information out of my daughter”), but by how much care and thought this teacher clearly put in over the school year. So, the mom quickly jotted down everything she could, and came up with a heartfelt note which she posted online:

"She makes everything better."Photo credit: Canva

“Dear —-,

I can’t express how important it is to [omitted] and I that Mia has such a supportive person caring for her and helping her grow. I have never heard her speak so clearly about someone. I was truly moved by how much she enjoyed being in your class. Thank you for making her feel this way.

I asked Mia what she liked about you and here’s what she said—unedited. She talked about you for several minutes.

‘[Teacher’s name] is nice. I love her because she is kind. She has been my favorite teacher so far because she is generous and she lets me go to the nurse when I need to. She has two dogs and two kids and I want to meet them because they sound nice and I want to say hi to everybody and…well…I want to meet the dogs! And she lets me talk about things I know a lot about like my butterfly reviews and jumpy spider.

s]"she lets me talk about things I know a lot about like my butterfly reviews and jumpy spider."Photo credit: Canva

I like when she calls on me except when I’m not raising my hand. Oh! And she let’s me stand up when I need to so I don’t fall out of my chair. She says I’m ok when something is wrong and she lets me tell her in private. And she takes care of me like when I had that stye today and she reminded me not to touch it! She doesn’t yell at me when I talk out loud, she just tells me to stop and when we’re talking to her she doesn't talk, she waits for us to calm down and finish and then she helps. And she gives me pencils when I don’t have one and she even lets me use sharpies when I need to even when it wasn’t the right paper and it bleeded through and she said it was okay. She makes everything better.

I think I know her favorite color. I’m going to miss her over the summer’

[she notices that I’m frantically writing down everything she said]

‘Wait! Can I put a joke in there?! Put What did one carton of milk say to the other carton of milk when they were arguing? We gotta get to the BOTTOM of this!

Because you have to drink to the bottom of the milk carton! Put the reason because she might not get it.’

I truly can’t thank you enough. Have a wonderful summer.”

Later in the comments, the mother would add that she has a mild form of autism, and suspects that Mia might as well, meaning that while she might only need minimal support, she “still faces noticeable difficulties with social communication,” particularly in only being able to talk about stuff she’s “really passionate about.” This teacher not only clearly saw that need in Mia and nurtured it (listening while she talked about spiders and butterflies) she even became a special interest herself. This is such a clear demonstration of how powerful a good teacher can be in a child’s life.

Thousands of viewers chimed in to share how meaningful it can be for teachers to get this kind of feedback, especially in a world that’s making it increasingly more difficult for teachers to do their job properly.

“Letters and appreciation like this for educators means so much. They work so hard and good teachers deserve to hear they're acknowledged for their sincere work. I'm sure she will be so touched by this.”

“The good ones, the good ones often never get this. They never hear how their impact has been noticed and appreciated. Especially in recent years, it's so hard now. It really is, so many are leaving the profession as they're not supported and worn down.”

“I’ve definitely cried a little from nice emails from my students (higher education level too). They really make my week - sometimes make my entire semester and it’s what keeps me from quitting given I don’t like most other aspects of my job. I’ll be on the verge of quitting then a student will send me a really lovely thank you and I’ll be like ‘oh ok this is why I do it.’ I have them all saved! I even show my colleagues/friends and they show me their nice emails too and we all ‘awww’ over them.”

“That’s such a lovely story. It definitely gets difficult when I have students become really rude or mean (these are all adults in higher ed so it’s even more frustrating), a lot lean towards forgetting that we are people with feelings. So when a student is nice it makes such a big difference and I’m always incredibly grateful.”

What a lovely reminder about the power of gratitude. We all need to hear that our efforts are making an impact. Hold onto the kind words bestowed upon you, and never hesitate to bestow them onto others.

To all the teachers who "make everything better": thank you.