Appreciating Appreciation

One of the nice traditions we have at our school is that we host alum at our school early in January and they work together to run what we call College Panel. Our College Guidance Office toss some question their way and then we open up the floor for students to ask questions. These alum discuss the whole college application process and how to adjust to life at college. This is a nice tradition, but the part I appreciate best is getting to talk to some graduates after the assembly.

This year we had two different assemblies, one for our current juniors and seniors and the other for our freshmen and sophomores. In the second assembly, one where I was not present, my name came up in response to a question about which high school class was most challenging. I heard a couple of different versions, but basically a couple of kids said my class (both referring to AP Calculus BC) was one of their most challenging classes in high school but that it was also a great preparation for college coursework. It is, of course, gratifying to hear that but what I want to write about here is the follow up. I saw each of these two students during lunch and had lovely conversations and they each sent me an email today. I am going to pat myself on the back here in public on a Friday afternoon. I hope you don’t mind.

The first student I am thinking of majors in English and Philosophy at an Ivy. Why did an English/Philosophy major choose AP Calculus BC? This is a natural question and, in fact, this student was challenged with this question by a classmate last year. This girl was also taking AP Physics and when she mentioned that she intended to major in Philosophy she was challenged. Why take these classes? She calmly replied that she had had high aspirations for her college admission and felt that she needed to present herself as a student capable of excelling in a number of arenas. This makes all the sense in the world and the fact that I know that she has no deep love for math makes the following remark from her email even more meaningful to me.

While you know that I am not a math person, your class really was the academic highlight of my senior year, and the way you taught us to think creatively about problems has helped me tremendously in college. Two teachers here have fundamentally changed the way that I think about the world — you and Ms. _____ ( I don’t know that it is smart to name the other teacher, but I am sharing this fact with that teacher) and I’m so grateful that I was fortunate enough to be taught by you both. I never thought that I would be excited to go to a math class each day, but your passion for teaching and your encouragement for us to think for ourselves made the Calc BC an incredible experience that I cannot even express how grateful I am to have had.

I have a story about a student from my first school (I left there in 2001) who I am still in touch with off and on. He paid me what I think is the greatest compliment I received in my career. He was talking about a boss of his and he said that this boss reminded him of me. He said his boss would ask him questions that he had not thought of on his own when faced with a problem to untangle. He said that reminded him of me. The compliment above and one I am going to mention next rank pretty close in my heart.

The second student I am thinking of wrote to me this morning. She references another one of our great traditions at our school. Every fall we host alums to come and talk about their experiences in STEM related fields.

I think quite often 0f a moment during my sophomore year where we had a conversation at my locker in your hallway. The STEM alumni panel had been the night before, and after our discussion on the content, you commented “how does it feel to know you will be back here doing that in a few years?” This unwavering belief and confidence in me before you even had me as a student helped me beyond words, so once again, just thank you. 

What is striking to me about this email is that I do not really remember this conversation but she certainly did. Those of us who have been in the business for a while know how important these kind of interactions are and it is an important reminder to be present and to be attentive to our students. I need to remind myself of this more regularly and this is one way to do so.

This has been a tough couple of years teaching high school. Virtual teaching in the spring of 2020. Hybrid teaching for 2020 – 2021 (the year that the second student was in my BC class) and we are still feeling the sting of all those experiences. Hearing such gratitude from students who went through these years is especially gratifying.

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