Teacher Appreciation: A Thank You to the Teachers Who Made a Difference in My Life

Today, I want to share something that's been on my heart lately.

We all have those teachers who made a huge impact on our life. They may come at different times in our lives, but we will never forget them. I have had MANY amazing teachers, but there are three that really stand out to me and taught me a lifelong lesson.

Mrs. Lewis

The first one is my 2nd and 5th-grade teacher, Mrs. Lewis. Yes, I was lucky enough to have had her twice! She was the kindest teacher I ever had. She made me feel loved, welcome, and truly cared about me. Even if I got in trouble, she was calm and understanding. She wanted us to learn that making mistakes was okay and that we could always learn a lesson from them. I’ll never forget when I told her that I was going to have a baby sister, her face lit up and she gave me the biggest hug. She encouraged my love for reading and introduced me to my favorite Boxcar Children books.

Mrs. Peters

The second teacher is my 10th and 11th grade English Honors teacher, Mrs. Peters. She was different from any teacher I had ever had before, a little intimidating and brutally honest. There was no sugarcoating with her. I was honestly terrified of taking her class because there were only a select few that got to be in her Honors class. She didn’t just teach me how to become a better writer and how to really analyze those “Great American Novels”. She taught me to never ever give up. I was definitely not the smartest one in the class or the best writer, but she pushed me harder than anybody else ever had in my life. Even though I never got an A in her class, she did motivate me to be ambitious, work hard, and always give 110%. After having her as a teacher, my grades went up, I started taking more Honors/AP classes, and ended up acing many of my college classes while graduating with honors. When I decided to start a blog, start creating teacher resources, and figure out how to make this business work full time, I could her voice in my head, that I could do anything I set my mind to.

Mrs. Wojnarowski

The third teacher was never actually my teacher, but she was my cooperating teacher from my college full-time internship. I was placed with Mrs. Wojnarowski to teach 1st Grade in a low-income area. At the time, I honestly wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a teacher anymore, because I did not have a good experience with my first internship. After a week in her classroom, I realized that teaching is what I was meant to do. She inspired me to become an amazing teacher. She showed me how to handle classroom management, how to run reading centers, how to effectively teach math, and most importantly build a classroom community. I’ll never forget how patient and caring she was with all of her students. She helped me remember my love for teaching. If not for her, I may not have had such a successful first year teaching and maybe even left teaching early. Funny enough, my younger sister ended up getting her first teaching job in the classroom next to Mrs. Wojnarowski. I tell her all the time how lucky she is to have a teacher on her team like her.

And to all my other beloved teachers, THANK YOU! You helped shape me into the woman I am today. I loved all of my teachers growing up, you were part of the reason why I wanted to become a teacher. I love when my students tell me that they want to be a teacher one day too. My hope is that I can make that same difference in their lives too.

This is something I’ve wanted to write for a long time, and with the end of the school year coming up plus teacher appreciation week, I thought that this would be a perfect time. There are students out there whose lives were changed because of you. There are students that will NEVER forget you! I have a card from one of my students and he wrote “You are the best teacher. You made me feel important and smart. I will never forget you.” I STILL cry anytime I pull that card out. That last line hits me in ALL THE FEELS!

Here’s to you, teacher. I think that you are an amazing, kind, patient, and fun teacher. You teach your students that anything is possible. You are an important part of their life. Most of all, your students love you more than you know. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!