Dear Ms. Bentz, You Changed My Life.
You never know how your words can inspire someone.
I think about her often and wonder if she is still with us today. And I wish I could tell her that her presence was life-changing for a little eighth-grade girl.
My English teacher, Ms. Bentz, was the beacon of light in my English 2.5-hour block period. Two classes back to back every single morning at times seemed like torture. First thing in the morning and the last thing you want to be is stuck in two back-to-back classes.
This was the class where we were taught Latin prefixes and suffixes. So you can imagine how exciting that was. Our teachers promised this would help us know the meaning of any word in the English language without looking it up in a dictionary.
It didn’t work, but I still remember that any word that starts with ‘bene’ means good. And that is only because a movie came out around the same time called Benny and Joon, and in the film, Benny was a ‘good’ man, and the teachers were clever enough to remind us of this. It stuck but was not exciting stuff for an eighth-grader.
Ms. Bentz took the creative writing class. When Ms. Bentz walked into the classroom, you felt her presence. She wore her glasses at the tip of her nose, had short hair, and dressed a little more classy than any of the other teachers who came to school. She dressed well and wore these necklaces and matching earrings, which I can still picture today. She made us want to look a little sharper for her class.
It was the beginning of October, and similes and metaphors were the first lesson. She wanted us to write a spooky Halloween-themed story using as many similes and metaphors as possible: nothing long, just one page.
I loved reading but never found any joy in writing and wondered if I was even good at it. I struggled with this story. I knew what similes and metaphors were and how to use them.
But I wanted to write a good story because I wanted it to be good enough for Ms. Bentz.
So many years have passed, but I still remember the first simile I used in the first sentence of that story. It had something to do with the moon. And I remember very little after that, but that’s not important. The story was not remarkable or even exceptional. I turned it in, not expecting much.
When I got it back, Ms. Bentz made it a point to come to me and talk to me. She was like that. When she would speak to you, she made you feel like the most important person in the world, and when she took the time to talk to you directly, you paid attention.
She told me that I had great expression and that the places where I used the similes and metaphors were perfect. The story flowed and had an unexpected ending, which was nice. And then she said, and I still remember, “You write well.” She even wrote a few phrases on the story, which I kept reading repeatedly. I kept it for many years.
Those three words stuck somewhere in the back of my little head. I continued to thrive in that class, and it was the first time I realized I liked writing and telling stories.
I wrote a few other pieces, and I remember her taking the time after class to tell me how great they were and how she was touched by a personal story I shared.
I struggled with numbers and Math and, until that moment, felt that there may be nothing I could excel at in school.
She changed that.
You can’t underestimate a teacher’s power in a child’s life and their impact on the direction of that child’s life. There are certain teachers who we will remember. And when we look back at our journey of discovering who we are, these teachers stirred and sparked great self-awareness of our skills.
Without them, our future may look different.
She made me self-aware of something I was good at. And I found out later on it wasn’t just me she had this impact on. My friend told me that Ms. Bentz talked to her after class and told her how good her essay was and how she appreciated the time and effort my friend spent on it. I wonder how many other writers she inspired through her many years of teaching.
To all the English/Writing teachers: Thank you for taking the time to believe in your students even when they may not believe in themselves.
Your presence in your student’s life may be the difference between a child or an adult continuing to write and one who gives up.
