During my 42 years of teaching English at John I. Leonard High School, I was honored to teach thousands of students. Many worked hard, overcame tremendous obstacles and still keep in touch today.
I started teaching in 1983, long before students could email their teachers. By the time I retired in 2025, email was more common than No. 2 pencils and every spring brought a handful of desperate messages from seniors suddenly concerned about their grades and hoping for a way to graduate.
Those emails, some quoted below as they were written, taught me that many of the biggest problems students face in May begin in August. They also illustrate a few lessons worth remembering.
Show up.
“Miss, is there anything I can do to bring my F up to a D?” was the most common email I received.
I would reply with a version of, “No, sorry. You have 48 unexcused absences.” At that point, there wasn’t much left to make up except the entire semester.
The good news is attendance is more often than not within students’ control. Students who show up consistently — and on time — avoid a host of problems before they start.
Don’t wait until the last minute.
One student was not ready to let it go and responded, “I understand that but I’m not asking you to just give me the credit I understand you can not do that I’m just asking you to accept 3 assignments just so I can have at least a D I’ve had some issues.”
I know teachers aren’t supposed to be sarcastic, but I couldn’t resist replying, “I guess you missed the lesson I taught on run-on sentences.”
Then I added, “It’s unreasonable of you to expect me to allow you to do that. It’s also unfair to the students who have been coming to school. Additionally, I’ve passed back all of the work that’s been done this nine weeks, so the answers to all of my assignments are out there. What issues have you been having?”
“I’ve had a hard time getting up in the morning.”
Many teenagers do struggle with early mornings. The key is recognizing that reality — and finding strategies to overcome it before attendance becomes a problem.
Every assignment is an opportunity to increase knowledge and improve grades. Waiting until the last week almost never works, but steady effort almost always does.
Proofread before you hit send.
Another student emailed, “show me the plagiarism because i wrote this essay alone with no help. If its not one things its another with this class imma never pass this class if you always have something to say, i have to wake up 7:30 in the morning everytime i come to you class i have a essay that has to be done by time your class is over like do you think imma computer and i wake up ready to right an essay? now i get a 0 like what??? that so crazy”
The essay in question was polished, grammatically correct, and unlike anything she’d submitted previously. For the record, my students wrote an essay for me only once a month — it took me that long to grade 130 essays. And school started at 7:30.
Another student wrote, “Si what can i so now mers”
“Do you mean, ‘So what can I do now, Mrs.?'” I replied.
Yet another: “I’m sorry to bother so late… but is there anyway I can retake me final or do some extra work or something to get get the credit. This is my only class I have a bad grade in & it’s gonna keep me from graduating”
After answering her question, I couldn’t help but add, “Please proofread your emails before sending them. Say, ‘my exam,’ not ‘me exam.’ Say, ‘get,’ not ‘get get.’ Say, ‘going to,’ not ‘gonna.’ And put a question mark after a question.” At least she got “it’s” right.
Study for exams.
“Do you know what my final grade will be?” a student asked.
“You passed both nine weeks, but you had 11 absences and failed my final exam, so your grade will be ‘N’ for ‘no credit.’ I’m sorry you let yourself go over 10 absences. If you hadn’t, you would have been exempt from my exam. But I will let you retake it tomorrow at 7:30. Knowing that you had to pass the exam in order to graduate, how many hours did you study for it?”
“Hours? What do you mean?”
The student showed up at 8:10.
“I’m sorry, but you failed my exam again,” I emailed after I’d graded her exam.
“I felt confident I passed it. Did I fail by a lot or was i close. I’m guessing I’m going to have to take it again until I pass it,” she replied.
“You do not have to take it again, just as I did not have to let you retake it, nor do I have to let you retake it yet again” was my answer.
“Okay so I just want to clarify that basically I don’t have to retake it? So you’re passing me?”
If optimism counted, she would’ve earned an A.
Respect goes both ways.
One senior, on the first day of school, responded to one of my classroom expectations by telling me exactly where I could stick his pencil.
I wrote him a referral, of course, but I continued to treat him with respect, just as I tried to treat every student. By the end of the year, we’d earned each other’s respect. He even asked me to write a letter of recommendation for him. I was tempted to ask whether he’d prefer I write it with a pencil, pen or on my computer.
“You have always been respectful to me in class,” I emailed one student who was begging for a passing grade, “but it’s disrespectful of you to skip my class. When you do so, you’re telling me my teaching isn’t important.”
“I understand that,” he replied, “but I haven’t been skipping your class out of disrespect.” At least there was that.
It wasn’t all bad.
Fortunately, the emails I’ve shared were the exception, not the rule. Most of the crises they describe could have been prevented months earlier. Many of my students worked hard, accepted responsibility and graduated without ever asking me to bend the rules or make exceptions that weren’t fair to their classmates.
I wasn’t a perfect teacher. Some lessons stuck. Others didn’t. Some students loved me. Others probably hated me. But if 42 years in the classroom taught me anything, it’s that students who show up, ask questions, accept responsibility and keep trying almost always succeed.
Last year, during my first year of retirement, a former colleague emailed me that several of my former students were talking about how I changed the way they saw themselves as writers when I chose their essays as examples of excellent writing.
Emails like that remind teachers that encouragement can last long after grades are forgotten.
To this year’s high schoolers:
Freshmen, start building good habits now. If your school offers the Cambridge AICE Diploma program, consider making it your goal. It can earn you college credit and, for many eligible Florida students, lead to a Bright Futures scholarship that can cover tuition at a Florida public college or university. Get involved in activities that interest you.
Sophomores and juniors, keep building on the habits that will make your senior year less stressful. The work you do now will pay off later. If college is in your plans, junior year is the time to begin searching for scholarships and preparing your applications.
Seniors, finish strong. Don’t let senioritis steal the satisfaction of ending your high school career on a high note. If college is in your future, complete the FAFSA and keep applying for scholarships, including local ones, which often receive fewer applications than national ones. You can’t win scholarships you never apply for.
Here’s my hope for this school year.
Parents will encourage and expect their children to show up on time, stay caught up, study for exams and ask for help long before they find themselves in need of a miracle.
Teachers will come to class prepared, organized, fair and caring, making every effort to use their students’ time wisely and help them succeed.
Administrators will support teachers, enforce policies consistently and create an environment where students can learn and thrive.
Maybe then more teachers will receive emails like this one: “Hi Ms. Alessi, I want to thank you for being my teacher this year. You were my favorite teacher by reason of how you approached us in such a calm manner like you were on antidepressants. I can say I gained a lot of knowledge in your class and got better fluently and grammarly in English. Keep up the good work you do by teaching students in the way you do and thank you for doing this for me. I’d like to see you at our graduation ceremony to say a last goodbye.”
Antidepressants? I’ll take it.
Janet Meckstroth Alessi is a frequent contributor to Accent. She can be reached at jlmalessi@aol.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Real emails to a now-retired teacher and her hopes for a new year
Reporting by Janet Meckstroth Alessi, Special to the Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Janet Meckstroth Alessi, Special to the Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY Network
