Throughout my 16-year educational career, I have been asked countless times to think about a memorable teacher. Any number of professors, administrators, and professional development instructors have asked this of participants to get at their “why”— why teach, why here, why now?

Here’s the problem: I can’t pick just one.

I am who I am as Ms. Smith, humble high school English teacher, from those who came before me. I am the sum of their parts. I do and say the things I do and say because of their impact and influence. I can easily give you 10 names right now, from my own K-12 experience, to former and current colleagues.

And yet, very little do we collectively do something about that. We as former students, ourselves, may think of the teacher who made us feel amazing or wise or honored, and even those who made us feel less-than-great. We learn about ourselves through these influential humans, in addition to the content and skills they imparted on us all those years ago. We enjoy the happy memories and move on with our days, sharing that private moment and memory with only ourselves.

You can imagine how many young people I have taught in my career, not including my time as a camp counselor or a student-teacher. But what of the teacher who has been instructing for 20 years? Or 30 years? Or the teacher who retired after teaching 40-plus years? How many students have they taught, who learned something they still use to this day?

The public widely knows that teachers spend extraordinarily large amounts of time doing our jobs both during our contracted hours and outside of it. We are seen at sporting events, musical performances, Back to School nights, tutoring sessions, drop-off and pick-up lines, and any other number of school-related activities. In fact, you might even see us outside of school: in a coffee shop grading, shopping for groceries, at the gym, or getting gas. Teachers: they’re just like us!

Teachers are integral members of the community. It is our joy to have been your teacher. We are so incredibly proud of you. But more often than not, we don’t get to see what happens after you leave our hallowed halls. We take another group of students into our care, work our magic, and send you off onto the next big adventure. Reaching out and saying a quick hello can mean the absolute world.

A former student from my years of teaching middle school, long since graduated high school and off to college, found me via social media. “Miss,” he wrote to me, “I still remember how goofy you were in 7th grade. You always made me laugh.” I teared up as I read his message. He continued, “I think about you all the time. I hope you’re still teaching!” I floated through the rest of my day from his kind words. All it took was someone to say, “I remember you,” to lift me up into the clouds.

Another former student saw me at a recent sporting event at our school; she had tagged along with her boyfriend, also an alumnus, to pick up his niece. I asked how she was and what she’s up to, and she shared how much my class meant to her and how hard she had worked over the summer at Bristol Community College to finish her associate’s degree so she can move on to the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences on her way to being a pharmacist. Later that night, she reached out to say how elated she was that I remembered her and that I genuinely asked about her current post-secondary plans. We only shared one school year together, but she remembered the safety and joy in my learning community. I soared into the stratosphere with that one. I may have even shed a tear or two.

Over the summer, an alumnus was recognized by the local chapter of Boys and Girls Club for his promotion to a new position as a site care coordinator, and he thanked our school for the impact we had on his decision to work with youth in his community. He will stop by to see his old teachers sometimes when he is in the neighborhood, and he always has a smile and a hug for each of us. He is one of many of our recent graduates who stops by during dismissal, when teachers are outside on the sidewalk and in the courtyard, to check in and to say hello. To have built a community where alumni can return just because they want to — that skyrockets me right into the Milky Way.

I practice this gratitude in my own personal life. Every year for Teacher Appreciation Week, I reach out to a former teacher or colleague who has given me a piece of themselves that I used to shape my own teaching career. I thank them for their impact and influence, we share where we are now, and both of us leave the conversation smiling, happy, and hopeful. One year, I even had the pleasure of shouting from my social media rooftops about my AP Calculus teacher who was honored as the 2019 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. He helped high school senior Allyson, incredibly math-adverse, learn and work hard to earn an outstanding score on that year’s AP exam. My appreciation for him has not gone unsaid.

My request is simple: thank a teacher today. We’d love to hear from you.

Allyson is a veteran English teacher in an urban district in Massachusetts. This school year is her 16th in total and her 11th at her current school. She completed the Western Mass Writing Project’s Summer Leadership Institute in 2024.