Why Teachers Teach . . .

It's Sunday morning, but Stan's at school catching up on some paperwork this morning. Many of you know that teachers' hours are seldom just 8 to 3, M-F . . . So, he received this letter, forwarded from his principal, from a college student who graduated a few years ago from Perry HS, here on MCAS Iwakuni. He then forwarded it to me and I am publishing it uncut & unedited, except I have omitted the student's name. This is the letter teachers wait all their careers to receive, but seldom do:

Dear Educators of Matthew C Perry High School,

I've been telling myself to write this e-mail for a while now, and now that I've finally sat down to do it, I find myself face to face with writer's block. This is not because I have nothing to say, but because there is too much to express and no orderly way to do it. I guess I'll start with why I've been thinking about you all for the past few weeks.

This quarter I'm taking a class called The Scholarship of Learning, aka Education 109. As the daughter of a teacher, I've always had a pretty good idea of what kind of work really goes into the job. I understand how incredibly stressful it is, but also how rewarding it can be. In this class I've been exposed to some pretty horrifying teacher stories, and I've read a handful of articles about sustainability and the importance of community and how the responsibility for change really wrests on the shoulders of teachers. Still, the fire in my heart for teaching grows at an overpowering rate.

Every day I am reminded of MCPerry. Of each and every one of my teachers, because each and every one of you directly effected me in a positive way. That, I think, is something to be proud of as a school. The other day in class we were asked to make a list of our top three worst and favorite teachers. All of my favorite teachers were from MCPerry, and my list definitely had more than 3 people on it. Comparatively, the other list only had one name on it. It wasn't any of you. When we compared every body's lists, we made a new list of words that describe a good teacher. Here are some of the words we all agreed upon;
Charismatic
Caring
Energetic
Patient
Intelligent
Inspiring
Professional
Friendly
Feeling
Humble
Honest
And the list went on, but looking at the list I was reminded again of all of you. For each word I could remember a time when one of my teachers from MCPerry had taught its meaning to me through their actions.

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you.
Thank you for letting me be the goalie on the soccer team. It taught me to try things even if I'm scared to death of them. Especially if I'm scared to death of them.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read to children after school in our library. It was one of my first experiences that helped me decide my career path.
Thank you for cutting me some slack because my plate was always too full with after school activities.
(Thanks for letting me do any and all after school activities I wanted to.)
Thank you for expecting the best from me.
Thank you for letting me know when my work wasn't the best it could have been.
Thank you for using red pens to mark up my History papers.
Thank you for giving me detention sometimes.
Thank you for making me stay after school to recite all that stuff about Sin, Co sin, and tangent until I got it right.
Thank you for making me run a mile in health class every week.
Thank you for teaching me how to take notes.
Thank you for being strict about homework and attendance policies. I may have spent a few nights writing papers 'till 2am, I may have even skipped first period to finish that math project, but I never lied about a missing or late assignment. I learned to own my mistakes as well as my accomplishments.

MOST importantly, Thank you for teaching me what real compassion for others looks like.

I hope some of you will e-mail me back.

With love and admiration,