Alyson

Thank you for being my favorite teacher I’ve ever had.

Thank you for not telling me that my projects weren’t good enough, but that you believed they could be better. That I could be better.

Thank you for not giving up on me.

I appreciate the energy you brought to the classroom. I still think about the joy that filled it.

I appreciate the way you played metal in class but told us to listen to the lyrics.

I still remember that time you told me you had a dream about me.

(I was trying to buy camping supplies off of you but wouldn’t buy the tent and you were offended because it was a really nice tent)

Thank you for living your religion in a way that made me smile; you were never loud about it, but you lived by example.

Thank you for smiling.

Thank you for being honest about your mental health.

Thank you for not being afraid to make things that other people wouldn’t like.

And really, most of all, thank you for being the reason I want to be a teacher.

Your impact on my life has been more than you could’ve ever known.

And now, all I really want is to be like you. To truly care about the students, be genuinely myself, embrace my hobbies, teach lessons in unconventional ways, embrace my creative side, share my religion quietly, to be someone to talk to, and most of all, to change lives.

Like:

I carved out a place in this world for two/But it's empty without you

And:

I've got all this love I've got to keep to myself/ All this effort to make it look effortless