What do Teachers Do?: A Holiday Message from a Student (in full-text)

A student wrote to me after he received his final grade. It describes all of the things I always wanted to have in a teacher and be as a teacher. I think I may have hit my mark. . .

“Dr. Blaque,

I hope you are having a great break. I just wanted to say thank you for everything this past semester. Your classroom was not only educational, but was just an absolute blast! I looked forward to coming to class every day just to listen to my peers reflections on what they grasped in what we read. We all worked so well together even though we all had such different views and I’ve never been in a classroom with such openly spoken diverse students and yet, it was all [relative] to what we were doing! The best part of this was that everybody had such different opinions and yet there was no animosity! Because we talked things out everybody’s opinions were taken into consideration and were respected. Because of this, we all learned from each other and gained a little more insight into the outside world that others live through. In this, we grew together, as a whole, there was no individuality in the classroom. As long as the students allowed themselves to be included, there was no exclusion, and from this we grew into a great being.

I don’t know if you noticed but we transitioned greatly since the beginning of the semester. You could feel it, a few weeks in and we were no longer single students left to search for something in the text. We had become interpreters of the text, all of us, ready to defend our claims against each other; we were also ready to change our point of view if another’s argument seemed better reasoned than ours. One particular event stands out in my mind. When we read the book Monkey Bridge, every interpretation of what a monkey bridge was, was so different. It seems like it should be, but take into account the fact that no obvious, physical bridges were mentioned first. One after another, each student came up with another, different way of looking at the monkey bridge. Even when I thought every way of looking at it was exhausted, there was a sea of hands raised to give another meaning and interpretation. This for me was the apex of the semester, listening to how much we all learned since starting with Zoot Suit.

I offer these memories up not to make us seem like people of higher intelligences, but as testimony and proof to the importance I found in your classroom. As a side note, I also wanted to thank you for recognizing my own race, as I had not truly recognized it myself. In the past, I had always hidden my race because it’s what I was taught to do as a little kid. To keep quiet as it is shameful to report that one didn’t know where their father was or even who he was. However, you showed me how I should stand up for my past, not shun it. I am just learning now the importance of what I am and I never understood my own significance, as I am a hybrid race. For all these years growing up I didn’t really inquire about my own past. But now, especially since our pasts share a connection, through religious means as well, I crave to understand my past and find out as much about it as well.
With the above said, I just wanted to thank you in sincerity and the utmost gratitude. I believe that teachers at times, appreciate reminders that what they are doing truly does make a difference. There’s always an easy way out, but that is not necessarily the right way. I believe that you have been granted with a special gift to touch young hearts and instill passion within their hearts. I hope one day to do this as well as you do it every day. From the greatest depths of my heart, not as a student, but as a friend I truly thank you. If there is anything that you ever need, in school or out of it, do not hesitate to ask. Have a blessed Christmas and New Years. I’ll see you next semester.

Yours Truly,
Kamal Hassan
Secondary Ed. English”

To receive an email such as this on Christmas Eve is a demonstration of why I do what I do.  All Praises are Due to Allah for this privilege.

You earn your place in life, there are no handouts.

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