TL;DR:
- There were a lot of teachers that influenced me and the teacher that I am today.
- My strongest memories are from the relationships I had with teachers, not the content I learned.
- Teachers that showed empathy, compassion, and how to be a good human are what resonated with me.
Greetings and salutations everyone. The Teach Better team came up with the fantastic idea of writing a letter to one of our teachers that inspired us to be the teachers we are today. I thought about it, and I could not come up with just one teacher. I have had so many teachers that have shaped me to be the teacher that I am today. So I thought about writing to one teacher from each grade level (elementary, middle school, and high school) to tell them what they mean to me and how they have shaped me to be the teacher that I am today.
So today, I would like to take a moment to write about Ms. Mary Inman, my 3rd-grade teacher, Mr. Jon Norskog, my 7th and 8th-grade physical education teacher, and Mr. Sean Clark, my English and Journalism teacher in high school. Each of these teachers showed me something about teaching, but they were not overly concerned with grades or curriculum. Each one showed me that there is more to teaching than just learning and grades.
As teachers, we have more to offer than just knowledge. We can offer past experiences, lessons learned, and just show our students how to be a good person. Click To TweetDear Ms. Inman,
Wow! It has been a while! I do not know if you remember me, but my name is Jason Lim. Over 30 years ago, I was in your 3rd-grade classroom. I wanted to write to you and tell you that I am also a teacher. Seventh and eighth grade Spanish is what I teach. I just wanted to let you know how one little incident showed me to have compassion for my students. To be honest, when I got the notification that you would be my 3rd-grade teacher, my older brother (who was 8 years older than me) told me you were mean. So in the back of my mind, I had this notion you were going to be mean to me as well. Well, my brother was wrong! I couldn’t have had anyone more compassionate and kind-hearted as you.
To be honest, I do not remember 3rd grade and what we learned. However, there are two instances in class that I will never forget. The first one was the story you told me of the student that did not have lunch to bring to school. You observed him every day not having anything to eat, and you finally confronted him. He said he didn’t have lunch because his parents never packed one. So you took charge and went to the grocery store to buy bologna, bread, and other fixings for lunch. You described this student as being so grateful. I took that to heart.
The other instance is where you truly showed compassion for me, and I will never forget it. I remember one day I received a really bad grade on one of my assessments. Since I had a bad grade, I had to take the assessment and have my parents sign it. I was terrified because I knew I would be in deep trouble with bringing home grades like that. So, instead of having it signed by my parents, I forged it. As you can expect, the signature did not look like my father’s (not even close).
Many teachers would just have written me off and called my parents, but you saw how frightened I was. I remember crying my eyes out because I knew I was in trouble. However, you, being the compassionate person that you are, let me retake the assessment right there at your desk. I will never forget the compassion that you showed all your students. As a teacher now, I try my best to show my students the same compassion. I will always remember these two instances, and I am forever grateful for the kindness you showed me. Thank you.
Dear Mr. Norskog,
I am not sure you remember me, but my name is Jason Lim. You had both my brother and me for 7th and 8th grade PE many years ago. What I learned from you was what would happen if you cared about your students. I will always remember all of the students looking up to you, as you were their favorite teacher. I know I did. My friends and I enjoyed being in your class and joking around with you.
However, the one thing that sticks out for me is when I got in trouble in class. I do not remember what I did, but I remember you pulling me to the side, with a disappointed look on your face and saying, “I cannot believe you did that, not you. I am so disappointed in you.” You did not scream or anything. However, you had this look of disappointment on your face. Those words really cut me. If it was anyone else, I wouldn’t care, but since we all looked up to you, those words cut me. I had to look at myself and evaluate the choices that I was making in class and school.
This showed me a teacher did not have to yell or scream to get their point across. If you have a relationship with your students, they will listen to you. You can be kind, caring, and thoughtful, but at the same time, you can be heard. As a teacher myself, I know relationships matter, and in the end, if we show we care, we will not only produce better students but better people. So overall, I just wanted to say thank you. You have been a tremendous influence on my teaching career.
Dear Mr. Clark,
How is it going? I will always remember you as my English teacher. However, you were more than that. I will be honest, I do not remember what you taught in class (Journalism class was cool but that was more of a personalized learning experience for me), but I will remember the cool stories you told the class. Your tales from Johnsburg were hilarious (I especially loved the one where you took the toilet paper and rolled it up to smoke it), and it made the class interesting.
Those stories captured who you were as a person. As a teacher, it showed me teaching isn’t just about the curriculum. Yes, it is important to teach and learn, but it is more important that your students see you as a person with a life. Your stories connected with us and showed us that you were just like us when you were our age and made the same silly decisions that we did. So thank you, Mr. Clark.
The Impact of Teachers
Many teachers have impacted my life and teaching career for both good and bad. What these three teachers have in common is that I personally do not remember what I learned from the curriculum (yes, one was a grade school teacher, one was a PE teacher, and the other was an English/Journalism teacher). However, these three teachers showed me what a curriculum cannot do: show compassion, empathy, and display the qualities of a good human being.
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If society wanted to make robots as teachers, then Google would have taken that over in a heartbeat. However, as teachers, we have more to offer than just knowledge. We can offer past experiences, lessons learned, and just show our students how to be a good person (it is vastly different if I searched on how to be a good person, rather than see one in person).
So I am calling out to all my teachers out there. This year has been really difficult, I know. However, we have the chance to impact our students’ lives. We do not have to reach every single student we have (however, that can be a goal). But if we reach out and have an impact on that one student, who knows? Maybe they will become a better doctor, lawyer, business person, or in this case for me, a better teacher.
About Jason Lim
Jason Lim is a middle school Spanish teacher at Kaneland Harter Middle School. This is Jason’s 13th year teaching Spanish. He graduated from NIU with a Spanish lit degree in 2003 and received his Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University in 2013. In his spare time, you can see Jason rooting for the Chicago Bears, Cubs, and Bulls. Besides Chicago teams, Jason is passionate about education and the framework of education. His goal is to be the best person he can be and inspire his students to do the same, whether in the classroom or in the outside world.
