Worth Remembering and Taking a Risk

Almost every teacher I know hopes that they make a difference in a child’s life. I know it sounds cliche, but it’s true. We go into the profession wide-eyed and idealistic. We’ll change the world one child at a time.

Most of us who stay in the profession for any period of time do touch lives. It’s sort of inevitable – after all, a child spends most of their waking days with their teacher.

In practice, it’s not all roses and sunshine. You lose your temper. You bomb a lesson. Things just don’t go as planned most of the time. In the end, you do the very best you can to make the difference you know you can make.

I have been privileged to work with several remarkable groups of kids. Recently, I found a stack of school stuff (almost 15 years old). In it were school pictures and notes from students that I remember fondly. I was pleased that I could still recall names (without looking) so many years after these students left my class.

When I left the classroom, I never imagined that one day, I’d be cruising around Facebook. I would never have imagined that I’d find the names of so many of my former students … just sitting there waiting for contact. I would never have imagined that I would be so bold as to start a Facebook group to reach out to them.

I never would have imagined how nervous I would be.

It’s been a long time since those students left me (and I left them). I’m reaching out and I’m wondering if they will at all be interested in this crazy lady who cared so much about them so many years ago.

There’s nothing to do now, but wait.

And … so I wait.