What's your legacy?

by Rivette Pena, MACI

At the end of the day,what will you leave behind? Will you be remembered for the papers you graded, the forms you filled out or the number of grades you put in the gradebook? How well decorated your room was or how well you were dressed? NO!

Students remember how you made them feel. They remember emotions. They remember kindness and reassurence. The way you made them feel successful. The way you could make a 65 seem like an A+. How safe they felt in your classroom. Those are the things they remember.

Over the years I received many notes from students for teacher appreciation and other holidays. Notes that other teachers prompted. But nothing made my day more than unsolicited purely genuine comments from students.

I wish I had saved more but here are a couple I came across this week. A student who is in her early 20’s now reached out to me after she read my article in the July issue “I Walked Away From Teaching After 27 Years and Never Looked Back”. This is what she had to say:

Hey Miss Pena I just read your story and it broke my heart:( I just wanted to let you know you deserve so much better and you were the absolute best teacher and you have a big heart of gold and you made such a big impact on my life and 100 of other students and after all these years I never got to thank you for that...I just personally wanted to tell you thank you and I really appreciated everything you did.

This made me so happy I spent so many years teaching. It makes the sacrifices seem worth it. I love all my kiddos (what I call my students). I have been lucky enough to see some find their way to teaching. To teach along side someone I once taught. That is a wonderful feeling. I can only hope I touched the hearts of my students and I somehow helped to shape their future.

I had a teacher that shaped my life. We all have that teacher that we wanted to be. Well mine was Ms. Lewis. She was well past her retirement age. She wore a wig and was very strict. I loved her. You see when I was in her class, I was 10 years old and I was very poor. One day we were told that we would be going on a field trip and we needed to bring a lunch. I had to return the permission slip to my teacher and let her know that I would not be able to attend. She asked me why and I started crying. You see, back then you had to pay for field trips and pack your own lunch. My mother said she could write a check for the field trip money but we didn’t have enough food to make a lunch to take with me. So I told my teacher all about it. I was so embarrassed and she just listened and told me not to worry that I was going on the field trip. The day of the field trip, I found that I had a special lunch in the lunch crate with my name on it and an ice cold soda wrapped in foil in the ice box. As I looked over at her eating her lunch she had the same ice cold soda wrapped in foil and awesome lunch that I had. She allowed me to keep my dignity and never mentioned it again. I will always be appreciative of that. She allowed me to be a child with no worries, even if for just one day.

I’ve always wanted to teach with that in mind. I wanted to children to have their dignity. I never pushed anyone for school supplies. I always had everything they needed when they walked into my classroom. I fed them if they were hungry. I left them alone if they needed room. I gave them a shoulder to cry on if they needed one. All while teaching the hell out of mathematics. I always wanted to spread my love of math to all my kiddos.

I came across another note in a memory on Facebook. This student moved on from my class and went on to highschool. This is what she had to say:

Dang I don’t even know whwhere to start, Ms Pena I’m speechless on how AMAZING you are. In my lifetime, I can say that you and my 7th grade math teachers are the BEST. I’m not so good at math and year you have made it so much better, you have given me so much hope that I can and will make it thru high school. You and Ms. Vincent are the best math teachers in the world and believe me when I say that I hope that yall do’t miss me as much as I’m going to miss yall because I dont’ think that if I go back to your classroom, I won’t be able to get out. It’s an honor to say in the times I was having most trouble in math my teachers were there to help me and make sure that I got it and I did. Keep being the AMAZING teachers that yall are. Stay safe and God Bless yall. Hopejully I see yall in the future as well, I’m hoing to see yall and I will make yall pround in math and other things.

This warms my heart. My students are my teaching legacy. To them I leave lessons of respect, kindness, joy and laughter. And of course my love of math.