The Back School Special "The Teacher Who Changed My Life"
Reader's Digest US|September 2019

Good educators share knowledge. Great ones make an impression that stays in their students’ hearts forever.

The Back School Special "The Teacher Who Changed My Life"

THE SURPRISE THANK-YOU

By Karin Brulliard

RARELY DO TEACHERS know whether they make lasting impressions on students, and finding out they did can be one of the most profound rewards of all. I know because it happened to my mother, a retired teacher, when she turned on NPR one morning.

I was visiting my parents in 2003 when my mom came out of their room with a puzzled look on her face. She’d been listening to the radio and heard an interview with a bestselling author of young-adult fantasy novels. The woman’s name was Tamora Pierce, the same as a precocious young writer my mom had taught nearly four decades before. My mother wondered, Could this be the same person?

Well, I said (probably far too snarkily), the Internet should be able to tell us. I found the author’s website quickly. She was a big deal—an “enormously popular” writer, as a New York Times review put it, of books featuring powerful heroines.

I clicked on the biography link to scan for references to Burlingame Junior High, where my mom had worked, and my heart began to flutter when I spotted it at the bottom of the first section. Here was confirmation that my mother had taught a now-famous writer! But my eyes came to a standstill reading the next paragraph, in which Pierce described writing her first fiction as a sixth-grader.

“The next year, as I was still scribbling my own stories, my English teacher (bless you, Mrs. Jacobsen!) introduced me to the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien,” the biography read. “I got hooked on fantasy, and then on science fiction, and both made their way into my stories.”

My mother’s name was Mary Jacobson.

Esta historia es de la edición September 2019 de Reader's Digest US.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición September 2019 de Reader's Digest US.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE READER'S DIGEST USVer todo
Election Day Memories - Stories about voting by the people, for the people
Reader's Digest US

Election Day Memories - Stories about voting by the people, for the people

A Convincing Argument When my boyfriend and I were finally old enough to vote in our first presidential election, we spent months debating with one another about our chosen candidates. We were quite persuasive, as we discovered when we got home from the polls and learned that we'd both voted for the other's initial choice.―SHERRY FOX Appleton, WI

time-read
4 minutos  |
November 2024
A New Way to Monitor Blood Sugar
Reader's Digest US

A New Way to Monitor Blood Sugar

Who can benefit from this wearable technology

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 2024
A Flag for Dad
Reader's Digest US

A Flag for Dad

An old sailor made a last wish. His son was determined to see that it came true.

time-read
4 minutos  |
November 2024
Sisterhood to Last a Lifetime
Reader's Digest US

Sisterhood to Last a Lifetime

These college pals teach a master class in how to maintain a friendship for 50-plus years

time-read
4 minutos  |
November 2024
...TO DIE ON A HOCKEY RINK
Reader's Digest US

...TO DIE ON A HOCKEY RINK

ONE MINUTE I WAS PLAYING IN MY BEER LEAGUE, THE NEXT I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL

time-read
9 minutos  |
November 2024
Yes, There's a Museum for That!
Reader's Digest US

Yes, There's a Museum for That!

These collections are wacky, wonderful and worth a visit

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 2024
Town Meeting Is Called!
Reader's Digest US

Town Meeting Is Called!

Once a year, the people of Elmore, Vermont, gather to practice a cherished right: democracy

time-read
8 minutos  |
November 2024
Just Tight
Reader's Digest US

Just Tight

Broken, battered and trapped in a ravine for days, a desperate driver wonders, \"Will anyone find me?\"

time-read
9 minutos  |
November 2024
WHY OUR BODIES DON'T DIG DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME
Reader's Digest US

WHY OUR BODIES DON'T DIG DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

Twice a year, when we spring ahead and fall back, we're more prone to sleepiness, depression and accidents

time-read
7 minutos  |
November 2024
MONEYSAVING DO'S AND DON'TS
Reader's Digest US

MONEYSAVING DO'S AND DON'TS

The run-up to the holidays doesn't have to bah-humbug your budget. A shopping expert shares strategies for saving big now and all year round.

time-read
10 minutos  |
November 2024