Growing up is strange. Everyone is still trying to find themselves and figure out who they are, and balancing school, friends, and family can be difficult. Navigating through all that while still trying to maintain and solidify a sense of self is extremely taxing on a young person, and teachers can be some of the most influential people to students during this time simply as a result of the amount of time spent with them. These are just some stories from when I was growing up of how teachers were the ones that helped me learn and grow as an individual; they taught me lessons that I have brought with me well into my college career.

1. The funny middle school teacher

You were the first teacher that I ever thought that actually understood me and my personality. I had never really thought about my grades and/or if I was actually interested in any of the subjects I was taking. At one time, I submitted an essay to you — it was extremely long, and it was an essay with no substance. It was filled with unintelligible fluff that I had written because I thought that was what you wanted to read to get a good grade. I wasn't worried about LEARNING, I was worried about the GRADE. You saw that in me. I distinctly remember you pulled me aside and straight up told me that the page limit didn't matter, that the grammar and all the petty things that other teachers want isn't what you were looking for in my writing. You told me that even if I only wrote one page, that singular page should be enough to get the content of the paper across — that the quality of the content within the paper was more important than any page limit or pre-formulated response. I have taken that advice with me in all my writing assignments in both high school and college, and it has never failed me.

2. The eco-friendly math/science teacher

I thought that you were the nicest teacher in my whole middle school. Everyone was friends with you, and I was always the quiet kid who sat in the back of the class that didn't really feel the need or want to become friends with you. I had you for two years, the first year as a science teacher and the second year as a math teacher. I had never been good at math, but you were patient whenever I needed help. During the time when I was preparing for an annual performance, I had gotten overwhelmed with schoolwork, and you saw that. You pulled me aside and asked me if I was okay, and you sat and listened to me through your whole lunch period while I complained and cried and just unloaded. You continued to check up on me all throughout high school, and even though we do not keep in touch anymore, your kindness is something that I always keep in mind whenever I meet new people or whenever I see that someone is having a hard time and needs someone to listen.

3. The quirky Earth Science teacher

I had you my first year of high school. None of the other teachers liked you, and all of the students thought you were strange. I had you for two of my classes--science research and earth science. You were strange in the sense that you never really taught in the same ways as the teachers that I had had previously — you frequently went off on tangents and talked about the discrepancies of the school system and social issues, but it was because of that that my mind was opened to all the things that were happening in the world. I became more interested in social issues and learning the different perspectives on controversial issues, I started to seek out information about issues I thought were important, and I started to think about politics in a way that I hadn't before. Because of this, I learned the importance of knowing — even if it's only the slightest bit — what is going on outside the little bubble of my hometown.

4. The understanding Bio teacher

You were a teacher that I thought didn't like me, mostly because I would constantly fall asleep in your class. Senior year of high school, you were the first class of the day: AP Biology. I thought that I was going to hate the class. We were mostly neutral to each other, and although I did think that you didn't like me, retrospectively you were just being a neutral teacher. One of the things that I had absolutely despised in other classes was the fact that teachers would call on me to answer a question I had no intention of answering. I used to get so angry and think to myself "if I don't have my hand raised, I don't know the answer" and "they just want to humiliate me in front of the class" (I did have a teacher who would call on me specifically because she knew I wouldn't know the answer). One of the policies that I appreciated and admired was the fact that you were completely against that policy as well. In the first week of class, you told the class that you didn't appreciate teachers calling out people and possibly triggering or embarrassing students for a participation grade. As an alternative, you told students that for every 10 bottle caps you brought in to be recycled, you would give one participation point--we had to get around 15 points for the whole year. I know that it saved me and a lot of other students and was a huge relief. That type of empathy and understanding is something that I try to keep in mind--to be kind to everyone because you don't know what they are going through. I think that in today's world, everyone could do a little more to keep that in mind.

5. The strict Literature teacher

I won't sugar coat this; when I had you as a teacher, I despised your class. I thought that your assignments were pointlessly long, that your lectures were pointless and overthought, that you played favorites with your students, and that you thought that your class was the most important class we were ever going to take for the rest of our lives. I didn't do well in your class. Looking back on your class, although you were harsh, your class was the one from which I absorbed the most skills. I utilized the same tactics you used to analyze books to write my papers, and I criticized students for the same things that you criticized me for when I was a teaching assistant. Something that I thought was different between the two of us in a teaching position, however, was how I approached my students and peers. Your approach was more abrasive and strictly structured than mine, and I believe that I received more genuine work — students wrote from the heart, not in a pre-formulated strict mold that resulted in the same essay from every student. Writing is meant to be used to reflect the writer, to express ideas and opinions, to get people thinking, and to convey the ideas and vision of the writer to their audience. I strongly believe that a strictly enforced pre-formulated format is against what writing is supposed to be. It may be a good learning tool to those just beginning, but for more experienced writers, it is an exclusive tool only to be utilized in certain contexts. Because we had such different views, you taught me what I didn't want to be.