Teaching In 2024 Is HARD — But These 19 Wholesome Teacher Stories Prove That It’s Not All Bad

2.

“When I was a first-grade teacher, I had a student who was moving away in March. He’d made a lot of progress in all areas, particularly his selective mutism. He was quiet, but was beginning to come out of his shell and was really coming into his own as a learner. I was disappointed I wouldn’t get to be the teacher to take him ‘across the finish line.'”

“On his last day, his mom wrote me the most heartfelt card. She told me they’d never dreamed he would speak so much and so clearly. She wrote that he constantly spoke of how much he loved school, his classmates, and me. 

She wrote that she and her husband had tried to delay their move (due to his work) as long as they could to give him as much time as possible in my class. I still have the card, and I re-read it from time to time when I need a reminder of how great our impact can be.”

—Meghan, 42, Illinois

6.

“I had a student move to the country two days before school started, knowing absolutely zero English. It was the fall of 2020, so we knew the world had been turned upside down. Now, my student had been pulled from her home country and put into a school with social distancing, masking, and hybrid learning. She had an extremely difficult time with this transition.”

“One day, my co-teacher was teaching over the computer, and it was my day to have a small group in person at school. I saw our student understandably struggling, so I grabbed my computer, pulled a desk next to hers (a major no-no at that time), and pulled up Google Translate. 

I began typing what I wanted to say to her (completely unrelated to the lesson happening in the background) and showed her that it could speak to it in Spanish, then she could type in the other box, and I could hear or read it in English. 

It took a bit for her to catch on, but once she did, her entire face lit up! It didn’t even occur to me that we shouldn’t be sitting that close to each other or sharing a keyboard; I just knew that I had thought of a way to help connect with her and help her feel more comfortable and understood.

Her mother later told me that she came home crying from excitement because I had found a way to talk with her.

COVID was HARD, and teaching through all of it was even harder. But out of all my years of teaching and amazing memorable moments, the look on her face when I found a way to communicate with her has to be the moment that melts my heart the most.”

—jessicawerner

16.

“I teach first grade in a low-income school in an inner-city neighborhood. I had a student who came from a very neglectful/abusive home, and it was his first time in a school setting. I potty-trained him, taught him how to brush his teeth, hold a pencil, etc. He is also autistic and rarely shows emotions or socializes with the other kids. Our school has a dental clinic, and I referred him to get his mouth checked. He came back from the dentist and was in so much pain. He crawled onto my lap, wrapped his arms around me, and said, ‘I just don’t ever want to let you go,’ and started crying.”

“At this point, he had friends in the classroom, could write his name and complete sentences, could go to the bathroom on his own, and could express his emotions. 

When he said those words to me, I immediately broke down because I realized I was the first adult in his life to see his personality and potential and provide a safe space for him. 

He was the first kid in my teaching career where I felt like I was starting from scratch. He moved on to second grade and is doing so well socially and academically after being placed in foster care. 

To this day, seeing his progress brings tears to my eyes. He made me realize the gravity of my job, and I am so proud of him.”

—Anonymous, 24, Ohio

18.

“I had one student three years in a row. This student was LGBTQ, and I knew he had difficulties with family at home understanding him. He joined all the after-school clubs I sponsored. Before he graduated, he came to my classroom and told me he tried to kill himself a few times before he was my student, but he hadn’t since he was in my classroom. He told me I was the first adult to make him feel valued, like a person whose life matters in the world.”

“I cried and cried later that day. A similar experience happened a few years later; we live in a rural and very religious community. But I still left teaching. It was so stressful, but never because of the children. The policymakers, the administration, the testing, and the unreasonable expectations drove me out.”

—Anonymous, 38, Florida