For Linda Zakas, former GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) teacher at Higgins Middle School in Peabody, MA.

By Rina Farber-Mazor

Hello!

Introduction to the Teacher Appreciation Mailbox

It’s undeniable that the current administration is not looking out for public school teachers (or most people for that matter). And as someone who got through high school primarily because of a few teachers who decided I was worth rooting for…

To My Art Teachers at Weymouth High School

By Cara Bean

Dear Mr. Larkin,

You were an older teacher about to retire when I was one of your students. You must have been fatigued with teaching at that time, but I appreciate that you were kind enough…

To My Personal Saviors at LHS

I know how appealing it might be to step back and curl up in a ball when the world is fracturing in front of you, when no matter how much you do, you can’t save everything and everyone. But before you call in sick for the next few days or weeks or just hand in your resignation…

To my third grade public school teacher

By Amy Lynn

Dear Mrs. Elderkin,

I turned 8 the year that I was in your class. I cried a lot. Grown-ups yelled at me for it. You never did. When that thin newspaper weight brown writing paper made the skin on…

To the teacher who made being smart cool

By Allison Yates

Dear Mr. Follis,

I have a thousand things to thank you for, so much more that I’m able to communicate in this letter. You classroom was like a direct line to life outside of Indiana, in a…

To My AP Euro Teacher

By Catherine Ducey

Thanks for teaching me to question everything, especially history textbooks written by men. Despite giving me detention for rolling my skirt — after all women should wear whatever they want — you still planted the seeds for a feminist.

Thank you.

Dear Senora Hughes

By Neil W.

Dear Senora Hughes, You were my Spanish teacher for 5 years, at Traphagen School, Mt Vernon, NY, starting in 1962. You gave me the gift of having fun learning, and I still am lucky enough to use my Spanish!