To The Letter

Over the past few years, I have made it a practice to ask my students to justify to me the reasons that I should pass them on to the fifth grade. This year I find myself back in the computer lab without a particular group of kids to antagonize. I worried that I might miss this peculiar interaction. Happily, the fifth grade teachers afforded me some consolation. They had each of their students pick a teacher or staff member to write a letter of thanks. I was the lucky recipient of two of these missives.
The first was a very straightforward accounting from a very serious-minded girl who wrote: "Thank you for teaching me in computer class. Thank you also for teaching me in P.E." No fluff, no excess. I wouldn't have expected anything else from this one. She's all business, but I didn't doubt the "sincerely" on the signature.
The other one came from a more complicated girl with a few more distractions. Her letter read, "Thank you for teaching me for the time that I was in your class. I really enjoyed your teaching even if I didn't show it. So thank you." She signed hers "sincerely" as well, with the addition of a big green crayon heart. This is the one that seemed to want to say more, but felt constrained by the form. I suspect that she probably didn't tell many of her friends she was writing to me, since that wouldn't have been very cool.
I really appreciate both of them taking the time to think of me. Sometimes it gets a little lonely being "the computer guy." I don't always feel the same connection to three hundred kids like I used to with twenty-some. It says something to me when somebody uses their best handwriting and follows the business letter format to tell me that, secretly, they didn't think I was such an awful pain. It is one of those secret perks of being a teacher. That and unlimited access to a really big paper cutter.