Teaching doesn’t necessarily get easier. In fact, I would say that this year is my toughest year teaching.

Why?

It’s not the kids…it’s my working conditions. Over the past four years I have seen my working condition deteriorate…my work hours have increased, my planning time has decreased, the number of students I have has increased, the number of classes I teach has increased, and this year my pay has actually decreased. Yes, you read that right…I am actually making less money this year than I did last year.

I can go on and on, but as you can imagine this “chipping away” of the teacher’s working conditions takes its toll.

Then the other day I got an email from a former student I taught just a couple of years ago. The email was a nice reminder of why I do what I do…why I continue to teach…

I pasted the email below. It’s from a boy named Carlos (I left out his last name for privacy). Carlos was an ESOL student who started my class roughly half way through the first quarter.

I posted his email below not to toot my own horn, but rather as a friendly reminder of how important a teacher’s job really is. I will continue to teach the best way I know how despite the deterioration of our working conditions because the fact of the matter is…I make a difference.

To all the teachers out there who are making a difference in the lives of their students everyday I say Thank You!

Here’s the email from Carlos:

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Dear Mr. Waxler,

I recently got a hold on your email. I was looking through some old papers and up came your name. It may be hard to remember, but i was one of your U.S history students. My name is [name removed], but everyone just called me Carlos. I went to Haile middle in 2006 when I was in eighth grade. I just wanted to let you know that I truly enjoyed your class and the best part about it is that I learned more in that class than I have in my current history classes. I can honestly say that I consider you to be THE best teacher that I have had. All the knowledge that I acquired during that class definitely helped me my freshman year. Now I am a sophomore and I am very grateful for your hard dedication to teaching. Thank you and keep up the good work.

Your former student,
[name removed]

P.S: Don’t worry if you don’t remember me.

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