Dear Professor,
This summer experience is a miracle, and I really want to tell you how much thankful I am. You have all the qualities that I think the best type of teacher has: knowledgeable, empathetic, organized, passionate, willing to help, humorous, and, all the time, loving and respecting the students. You have more trust in me than I have in myself, encouraging me, saying inspiring sentences like “you are amazing.” All of these are pushing and motivating me to make my paper better. Now, I really did it. More importantly, I like my growth and feel proud of this new me.
I heard famous people saying, “education is what remains after one have forgotten everything they learned in school.” Instead of just learning about education, I FEEL EDUCATION in this program. I feel educated and, again, truly motivated to pursue this as my future research area. This journey enlightened me that the significance of education is never just about teaching the subject but always about educating the human. Education is about love and being loved. Teachers provide students with a model of how to be human and learn from students about human interaction. This mutually beneficial relationship is the magic of education contributing to humanity’s flourishing intellectual and moral continuation.
Finally, thank you again for all you gave me. I wish, maybe after several years, I can proudly tell you that I become an empathetic educator who truly loves humanity and is willing to enlighten more people, just like you did.
My professor’s response:
Dear Audrey,
Admittedly, I’m sitting here reading your kind and generous reflection with tears in my eyes. Wow! As teachers, sometimes we get feedback from students and sometimes we do not. We do not always know what, if any, impact we might have had on our students, although we know the impact they have made on us. It has been a pleasure and privilege engaging with you this summer; I have learned so much from your research on empathy-based pedagogies. You have a bright future ahead of you. I look forward to hearing more about your journey as a teacher-in-training and as an in service teacher.
That's the sweetest thing in the world!