My Spanish teacher changed my life. I started taking Spanish 1A and 1B just because I needed electives for 7th and 8th grade and didn’t think I could suffer through anything else. I took Spanish 2 because I wanted another year with my favorite teacher. See, I’ve never really minded teachers. I always got along with them just fine. At the same time, I never really felt like I could relate to any of them either. They were friendly and they taught just fine. They just never really tried to level with their students. I feel like because of that, my grades weren’t exactly what they could’ve, should’ve, been.
I never saw a reason to do the work. If my teacher didn’t care enough about me to ask why things weren’t getting done, then why should I do them? There was no real reason besides a grade. The motivation just wasn’t high enough to make me care.
Then, I started taking a class with Mrs. Davis as my teacher. When I didn’t do the work, she asked why. She cared. She wanted to know me more than the other teachers seemed to. She wanted to see more than just another face in a desk everyday. She wanted that with all her students. She still does. So, I explained things to her. She listened. She paid attention. She remembered and always asked for a follow up. She still does. For the first time since I started school, one of my teachers really seemed to see something other than another face and another grade. I was important. I’d never felt like a teacher found me important.
So I started doing the work. I started wanting to make the grade. I started caring about what other teachers saw in me when they saw my grade. I wanted to be different, better somehow. Mrs. Davis found a way to make me see there was more to doing the work than making the grade. She always said, still says, your legacy is what you leave on paper. I wanted my legacy to be something more than bad grades and