Often as educators, we don’t realize the power of our words or the impression that we make upon our students until years later. As for me, there are days that are frustrating when students just don’t seem to be as engaged as they could be. However, they are watching and listening.

Over the last two weeks, I have received three letters from former students and they were humbling to me. One of those letters was from a student I had and graduated about four years ago. The letter was one that explained her change in plans from the time she was a senior.

I have a practice of having my senior list their goals for the five years after graduation. They print three copies of the list that are mailed to them one year after graduation, three years after graduation and then the final letter is sent five years after graduation.

I send these out but get only a few replies sent back. This one was almost apologetic in that the young lady had changed some of her plans and had fallen behind on her college goals. The exercise is not so much for me, but for the students to realize that a roadmap is essential. It does not mean that you can’t take a different path, but you at least have to have a plan.

This young woman had changed career choices and was still attending school, but at a slower pace. She had also purchased a home and was getting married, but wanted to assure me that she was committed to getting her degree.

She also assured me in capital letters that she did not have a credit card. I make it sort of a mantra for students not to get caught in the debt trap, except for a mortgage.

I received a second letter via e-mail from another student who is a junior in a private college. For those of my students who commit themselves to attending a four-year college, I emphasize the importance of an overseas experience. I tell them that we are a globalized world and that it is important for them to experience other cultures and people.

Over the years, I have had students go on church mission trips to South and Central America and study through their universities in England, France and Italy. The e-mail I received from this student told me of a mission trip she had gone on with other students to Haiti shortly before the earthquake occurred.

I quote from her e-mail, “So, do you remember all those time you talked up studying abroad and encouraged us to do it if we had the chance? Well it must have made an impression on me, because I’m going to be studying abroad this semester in Australia with some of my friends from college.

“Every time I think study abroad, I think of you and all your stories of your travel experiences. So thanks for always sharing and always encouraging us to take advantage of those opportunities to travel and experience different cultures and see the world.”

This student was always quiet and frankly, I thought, although very bright, was bored out of her mind in my class. I am so proud of her, not for necessarily for going to study abroad, but really for her story of her journey to Haiti on a mission trip. She was so moved by the poverty yet the joy in the children that she worked with in the simple things that we in our nation of wealth take for granted. She is a world-changer and has such a huge heart that it really makes me proud of her.

Just this past Monday, I received a letter from another student who said the following: “I am writing to tell you that I have decided to attend Indiana University Southeast and major in elementary education. I would like to tell you that you have played a major part in helping me decide what to do. Until your class, I thought of school as a place that I was forced to go to that was boring and repetitive. But your class completely changed my views.

“You made every class enjoyable and I can still remember everything that you taught us. You really found ways to keep us interested and it was nice to have a history teacher who had been to the places that they were teaching about.”

I am so proud of this young person and I know that I would be happy to have my grandchildren taught by her.

Look, I don’t mean this to be a pat-on-the-back session for me. But the last few months, I have had a lot of “life happens” things on my plate that kind of got me down. Most days I teach, I ask myself am I really making a difference.

I suspect many of my colleagues in my profession ask the same thing. Although the world is a much different place than when we were in school, we do make a difference — many times it is with students that you never suspected.

As educators, we live for notes like the ones I mentioned. I believe that all of my students can achieve, I have never doubted that. However, the methods of how they achieve sometimes cannot be accurately assessed by a standardized test. The assessment method is the challenge of accountability. To hold teachers licensing hostage to ISTEP scores is an insult to the profession.

The thing is, we are not producing clones and widgets as products. We are producing members of society who learn differently and test differently. The challenge is to find a holistic method of assessment.

I thank the three students who wrote to me, you really made my day and I appreciate that more than you can possibly know.

— Tim McDonald can be reached at timothy.mcdonald@agsfaculty.indwes.edu