One of my students (in a class of 165) wrote a note on her final exam about how the class was challenging for her especially because English is her 3rd language (she was from a village in Guatemala where they only spoke a Mayan dialect)...she described her life circumstances and I was very touched. I wrote her an email thanking her for sharing all of that with me, and let her know how deeply I admire her courage and persistence and all of her hard work this semester.
She wrote back as well, and it was just a really lovely interaction.
I always appreciate honesty from my students (like the one who wrote to me that he overslept his alarm and missed the exam!---I let him take it later and when he asked what else he needed to do, I told him "buy a new alarm clock"--which made him laugh!) and I feel so much like they are all my children. Feeling very happy.
