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The Powerful Moments of Your Lives, Distilled

We asked teachers to share their triumphs and frustrations, the hilarious or absurd moments of their lives, in no more than 100 words.

For more Tiny Teaching Stories, click here.

To submit your own story, click here.

I was secretly ecstatic no one showed for optional Thursday tutoring, and was hurriedly tidying my desk when she popped her head in. 鈥淢iss, are you tutoring today?鈥� If only I鈥檇 left five minutes earlier ... 鈥淎bsolutely! What do you need help with?鈥� She entered. 鈥淣othing. I鈥檓 just not ready to go home yet.鈥� In the next hour, she shared her story: her dad鈥檚 betrayal, resulting half-sister, divorce, custody battle. I asked if she was being hurt. 鈥淣o abuse, just no love,鈥� she said. At 5:15 p.m. she stood abruptly. 鈥淪orry. It鈥檚 late.鈥� I hugged her and said, 鈥淣ext Thursday, then?鈥�

Isabel Rodriguez
8th grade English/language arts
El Paso, Texas

鈥淥pen your gifts!鈥� my eager students chorus right before the bell sounded for winter break. Peering into my bags, I see coffee mugs, paperweights, gift cards. My eye catches a crudely wrapped present sitting on the corner of the desk. I carefully pick it up and unravel the strings to unveil a stained Snoopy stuffed animal with a slight tear and a missing eye. I scan the faces looking at me and say, 鈥淪noopy鈥攎y favorite!鈥� I see a small smile arise from the little girl who鈥檇 given me all that she could with all her heart.

Bryan Steele
Grades 4-8
Desert Center, Calif.

As the school year started, a senior I barely knew stood chatting in my doorway. With a green card, he said, he鈥檇 work after graduation. College wasn鈥檛 a real option; his family never had enough money to pay for citizenship papers, let alone college.

I thought otherwise.

Online, we found a local group to help. For his citizenship, I ordered test flash cards and raised application funds. He got a test date quickly. By late spring he was a U.S. citizen, looking at colleges with his girlfriend.

Few things I鈥檝e done in my life have been more random or rewarding.

David Quinn
International Baccalaureate coordinator
Edmonds, Wash.

鈥淵ou didn鈥檛 say 鈥榖ut.鈥欌��

At first I couldn鈥檛 process her words or her meaning through her halting, tearful delivery. She gathered herself and said it again. 鈥淵ou didn鈥檛 say 鈥榖ut.鈥欌��

And then I knew. I knew that my last-day-of-the-year words had been just right.

鈥淔or as long as I can remember, teachers have been telling me, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e so smart, so talented 鈥� but you just don鈥檛 work hard enough.鈥欌�� Her tears came faster, harder, as did mine. 鈥淭hank you for not saying 鈥榖ut.鈥欌��

Laurie Roberts
12th grade Advanced Placement Literature
Boise, Idaho

My fourth year of teaching, three 5th grade special education students reading on a kindergarten level, sitting around a horseshoe table with me in the middle. They are taking the annual state reading assessment. I know they will not pass. They started 5th grade unable to read a word. Now they are diligently using their highlighters to look at every word, just like I taught them. I have tears in my eyes; they are trying to take this test the best they can. I am so proud of them.

Nancy Rodgers
Special education, 6th to 12th grade
Paris, Texas

About This Project

Teachers鈥� lives are packed with powerful moments: moments of triumph, frustration, absurdity, joy, revelation, and hilarity. We want to hear about them. Submit your Tiny Teaching Story, in no more than 100 words, here.