To every teacher I’ve had in the past 20 years:

Whenever I think of you, I’m reminded of just how lucky I am. I’m lucky because I had teachers who stayed after class for hours answering my questions. Teachers who were so brilliant and engaging that I’d rather spend lunch in their classrooms than in the cafeteria. Teachers whose passion for a subject was so infectious that I couldn’t help but enjoy learning from them.

I owe so much of my success to your hard work, and I’m grateful for that every day.

But in the past week, I’ve realized just how hard that work was.

On Monday, I started teaching a high school summer program in computer science. In five days, I’ve learned a lot.

I’ve learned what it’s like to be on my feet at maximum energy for 14 hours a day. I’ve learned how to improvise when every form of technology in my classroom malfunctions on the first day. I’ve even learned about the wide variety of bodily fluids that can come from sick children.

I’ve also discovered the novelty of life when everything is a teachable moment and anything can become the beginning of a lesson plan. I’ve felt the utter terror of almost running out of new ways to explain a concept and the sheer joy when a student experiences that “aha” moment. I’ve come home at the end of the day and fallen asleep as soon as I sat down, feeling more fulfilled than I ever thought possible.

What I’m trying to say is that I’m walking a few steps in your shoes and they’re really hard to fill. I have no idea how you do it every day, and I’ll be lucky if my students think I’m half as cool as I thought you were. In short, I’m still learning from you.

Thank you.