They say that the influence of a good teacher can’t be erased.  Recently I found out that my fifth grade teacher passed away and those words truly apply here.

It was 1991 and the world was a different place.  We rode in our friends’ moms’ minivans to field trips (and may or may not have worn seatbelts).  Videos in class were rare occurrences and they were on these big black boxes called VHS (insert millennial doing a Google image search here).  And I was in fifth grade at St. Lawrence School in Shelton, Connecticut.

Mrs. Francis was the teacher everyone talked about and loved.  She made social studies come alive.  Her classes were filled with laughter and smiles.  The irony is that thirty years later (author gasps as she writes that!), I couldn’t much tell you about the content of the academic classes she taught me.  But I can tell you that she made learning fun and made me want to keep learning.  Before there was a movie Jurassic Park, she had the book on her desk and was telling us about this exciting story of a world where dinosaurs return.  She moved to the beach and we took a field trip TO. HER. HOUSE.  Yes, you read that right.  Not only did I know where my teacher lived, we went there as a whole class of rambunctious 10 and 11 year old Catholic school kids!  We found snails and dug in the sand and all made it back to school in one piece!

When my life long friend texted me that Mrs. Francis had passed, I was heartbroken.  I was friends with her on social media and went to her profile.  In it she wrote: “I enjoyed every class and every subject AND EVERY CHILD.”  That passion was apparent to me as a child and even more so now as both and adult and teacher.  As I was reading the text, I heard my teenage son watching Cheers on TV and the familiar words of its theme song, “Sometimes you want to go; where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came, you want to be where you can see, our troubles are all the same, you want to be where everybody knows your name.”  Mrs. Francis knew all our names.  She remembered and befriended many alumni of our school on social media.  She commented on pictures of our kids and our live’s accomplishments.  But most importantly, she helped lay the foundation for a love of learning and enthusiasm for life for so many of us.

I can imagine that there aren’t many readers of the Wired Educator blog that had the honor of knowing Mrs. Francis.  But I know that you each have a Mrs. Francis in your life.  If you are lucky enough to still be in contact or can get in contact, send them a note of appreciation.  My challenge to you is that even if you cannot find your teacher to thank, strive to be that teacher for your students.  Be the teacher that they will remember 30 years from now and fondly remember that time when…