An Open Letter To The Teacher That Always Believed In Me

Dear Ms. S.

They say that in order to succeed in life, you only need one person to believe in you. I’m not sure if that’s true for everyone, but I’m certain it was true for me. You hear those stories everyday about people writing about that one teacher that changed their life. You think it sounds outrageous, I mean how can one teacher change the world, right? But you changed my life in so many ways and I don’t ever know if there are enough words in the dictionary to really express the gratitude for all that I feel for all that you've done for me.

I had a strange dream from a young age. I discovered the love of writing when I was ten years old, and it never left me. I always felt like writing wasn’t just a hobby for me, it was a piece of my soul. Writing was always there for me, even when people weren’t, and it’s never left my side. I was always told though; I couldn’t be a writer because it wasn’t a career, so it was instilled in my brain that I had to become a nurse.

So that’s what I attempted to do. When people would ask me what are you going to do when you go to college, I would say "I am going to nursing school." , but I'll be honest, it always left a bitter taste in my mouth. I knew deep inside my soul that it wasn't what I wanted to do nor would it ever make me happy, but I pretended that it did.

That was my goal- until I met you.

You see, you weren’t just a teacher, not to me anyway. You weren’t just a class I sat in for a grade. You were much more to me than that, and you remain that until even today. You were the first teacher that I ever had that I recognized my love for writing. I remember being obsessed with The Twilight Saga when I was a teenager and you had given us an assignment, and I can’t remember exactly what it was, but I remember that I wrote a story about Edward Cullen. Looking back, It seems so silly, but I remember you complimenting my imagination and it’s something that has stuck with me for all these years.

You were an inspiration to me, and I constantly tell people this even now. You cared about your students in a way that makes them feel like they matter, not just in your classroom, but in the world, and that’s a trait that I found was rare. I didn’t have a lot of teachers who I felt did this. I told you about my dreams, and you never once thought they were over the top. You never told me that I couldn’t do it. You never once invalidated how I felt or what I saw in my future. In fact, you encouraged it. You believed in me when I couldn’t even seem to believe in myself. Your class was my favorite, not just because it was English and that was my favorite subject, but because of you. You weren’t like most teachers. It was your class that helped me become a better writer. You helped me understand that there is always something that can be learned and to this day, I stick by that.

I don’t settle on things, if there is a class on writing, even at twenty-eight years old, I’ll take it because I feel even at my best I can still learn a thing or two, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop trying to do better than I did yesterday. And I owe that all to you.

I don’t think that a lot of people understand how important teachers and educators really are. When I think about what a good teacher means to me, I think about you. You are the kind of person that always went out of your way for me, even if what you were doing didn’t seem like a big deal to you, it always was to me. Everything you ever did for me meant the world to me, and I’ll never stop telling you how thankful I am to have been fortunate enough to be in your class.

I wouldn’t be who I am today without you. I wouldn’t have written and published a novel at nineteen years old. I wouldn’t have pursued a career in writing and gotten a degree in Creative writing. I did all of that because I was fortunate enough to have a teacher that encouraged my goals and dreams and never made me feel stupid for having them. If I’m ever asked what I think it would mean to be a great teacher, I’d show the world your picture. You are the very reason I never had to give up on my dream. So thank you.

Sincerely,

Ada