Teachers have sometimes hundreds of students each year. It's remarkable that they remember any, right? The special ones, the standouts, are the ones that stay in their memories the most though. Here are some stories from teachers who recall being touched by the efforts of their particular students thanks to Redditor mteart, who asked: "Teachers of Reddit, who is one stand-out student that you'll remember for a very long time?"
"You don't see much empathy from 6 year olds."
I teach 1st. I have a student with high anxiety if I'm not there. I had a funeral for my grandpa, so I front loaded him with something like "My grandpa went to heaven so I wont be here tomorrow. So and so will be the sub." He said okay, walked away, then came back a few minutes later and hugged me and said "I'm sorry about your grandpa."
You don't see much empathy from 6 year olds. I don't think I'll ever forget that moment.
"I think we're all teachers."
My first year working in education, there was one kid that was super creative; he could turn anything into a game. He made a game with dominoes one time that I couldn't for the life of me beat, and I was seriously trying.
He later confided in me that his ex-stepfather had hit his mom and been to jail several times. It broke my heart because he and his siblings were the sweetest kids. He said to me once, "I think we're all teachers" and that quote still rings true, 7 years later.
"Everyone just assumed she was mute..."
Not while I was a teacher, but while I was an aide there was a girl in the class who didn't talk. Everyone just assumed she was mute and would make fun of her for not talking. Even the teacher kinda brushed her off as "oh so and so just doesn't speak so don't worry about it." I don't know what that little kid went through or why she wouldn't talk to her classmates but she could definitely talk and hated everyone in that class for being mean to her. I think about her all the time and often wonder how she's doing since she'd be entering high school pretty soon.
"From day one, he had been my favorite student."
GiphyI teach 8th grade. Last year, we lost one of our students in an accident right before fall break. From day one, he had been my favorite student. He was unbelievably kind and intelligent. Literally every single student had only positive things to say about him. I know that's typically how it goes when someone passes, but it wasn't like that with him. He was just one of those people you couldn't help but love. He was someone who would go out of his way to help those around him, and he brought out the best in his peers, a born leader.
Then we lost him.
I floundered for the rest of the year; I never felt like I completely regained my footing. I'm thankful for the time I had with him in my class, but I'm terrified of having to go through that again.
"I had one super sassy student..."
I had one super sassy student who would always grimace when asked a question and give minimal effort in anything related to class. One day our school had a Halloween party and I was helping with a magic show when she ran up to me with her friend and said "this is my favorite teacher" to her friend. She was smiling so much and so happy, and from that day on she was a brilliant kid showing her true potential. Always high five everyone in your class and make em blossom fellow teachers.
"It was absolutely brilliant."
I run a creative writing club for kids. One boy I met doing a creative writing workshop at his primary school, he was reluctant to participate in my activity because it was getting in the way of his writing career - he was working on a novel. He asked me if I'd read the first few chapters, so I did and I was blown away, convinced he'd just hand-copied an Agatha Christie novel.
A couple of years later, he joined my after school program, for kids who want to be writers, and then last year he emailed me to say he'd finished his first novel. (Not the same novel from primary school, he gave up on that one). He asked me to read it, and it was absolutely brilliant. It's a cozy murder mystery, set on an alien planet, with heaps of dry (British style) humour. I read it in between reading two Terry Pratchett books, and his book stood up in terms of entertainment and humour value. Meanwhile, I was looking for a book to be published through my start up independent book label. So, now he's being published at the ripe old age of 15.
"We kept things very vague."
Taught high school theatre and discovered a notebook that was being passed around mentioning a lot of high school drinking. So, one night instead of rehearsal, we staged an "intervention" with the cast of the show. We kept things very vague. Let the kids know we cared about them and talked to them frankly about some of our own experiences with addiction and depression. At the end of it, one student -- someone who was not even mentioned in the notebook and I would have never suspected ANY of the things we talked about applied to him -- pulled me aside and said, "I don't know how you guys figured it out, but yeah, I've been cutting. And I really appreciate you not calling me out in there." He got help soon thereafter, and is living a healthy life to this day.
"Her drive was impressive."
I teach where there was a school shooting. My student was shot and almost died. She survived because a specialist happened to be in town. When I visited with her in the hospital a couple days after, she asked how she could finish the class. Her drive was impressive.
"I'll always carry him with me."
I started in my first classroom this past July. It is a full special education elementary classroom. I had a very strong connection with one of the students. He had Cerebral Palsy and was nonverbal, but you always knew what he needed and how he was feeling. He was sweet and enjoyed life. His home life wasn't the greatest, but he loved being at school with his friends and teachers.
He passed away in September. I'll never forget that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach when the staff in my classroom got called down to the principal's office and we were told. It was one of the worst things I've ever experienced. I'll always carry him with me.
"I think I will always remember him."
GiphyOne of my former students just ran into a burning house the other day to save a family with no thought to his own safety.
So, he is on my mind right now. It is hard to really pin down because there have been so many. I had one kid who is going to college and getting into politics, and he should.
He took on a superintendent... and won, for the good of all his peers. Pretty awesome. Not in the news, but pretty awesome. I think I will always remember him.
"Just a wonderful PERSON."
The first one who died tragically young after graduation. He reminded me of my oldest son, and was the most genuine and kind young man.
He wasn't an especially good student. Just a wonderful PERSON
"He recognized me from her yearbook pictures
A student once asked me what his sister was like when she was in high school. We had been in the same year throughout high school and then went to the same college for a bit, so I knew her pretty well, even though we weren't exactly friends. Great girl, everyone loved her, she had this way of making you smile no matter how sad you felt. So I'm like "Well, what is she up to these days? She must've recognized my name if you know we went to school together."
Well, turns out she committed suicide a few months after our last semester together. Her brother was 9 at the time, and was now in my class 7 years later. He recognized me from her yearbook pictures, and just wanted to learn more about his sister from someone who got to see a different side of her.
"Yeah, I will never forget that kid..."
I had a student who really struggled with depression. One day we were doing an activity in class and he asked me if I had seen Dead Poet's Society. I said, "Yes! I love that movie." He then said, "I was watching it with my grandma and the main teacher reminded me of you"
Yeah, I will never forget that kid or how he made my father tear up when I told him the story and he watched the movie for the first time ever.
"Great sense of humor that I really enjoyed."
I had a student with autism who was a carbon copy of Napoleon Dynamite. Great sense of dry humor that I really enjoyed. He's still around town and works at a convenience store. Whenever I go in there to buy beer, he'll casually walk by me, wag a finger and, in cartoon fashion, whisper "moderation."
"Tested him for allergies. And guess what?"
I had a kid named Michael, and he had a severe peanut allergy. His mother was very clear with us, he needed to eat his lunch and snack alone in the nurses office (this was before most schools were nut free zones). She also insisted he have his own school bus to school. So every morning one of the special buses would pick him up on his own and at would collect him. The kid was socially awkward, because he was isolated from everyone else. Well, somehow the school got wind his mother was a bit off, and they, without her permission. Tested him for allergies. And guess what? The kid was allergic to literally nothing. He had spent his entire childhood separated from his classmates simply because his mother made up and allergy. And this, and her parenting, made him an odd child. He'd be about 30 now and I wish I know what happened to him.
"Not that great of a student..."
Not that great of a student, but an amazing person. If you've ever taught middle schoolers, you know you don't expect them to have the wisdom, patience, and kindness of a grandfather. I learned later in the year, that said child had an older sibling who was severely developmentally disabled. I suspect that may have had something to do with his prematurely wise personality.
"I had this student who was the smartest kid I've ever met."
I had this student who was the smartest kid I've ever met. She was the sweetest, kindest, and genuine person I've ever met. You could have dropped her in a college classroom and she would have gotten straight A's. I have her article from my grad classes to read and I think she got them more than I did sometimes. She was an overachiever and smart as a whip.
Unfortunately she had a pretty severe eating disorder and before my semester of student teaching was up she was sent to inpatient. The poor thing finished her research paper two months early because she didn't want to disappoint anyone.
I wish I could have done more for her as I had a similar experience in my high school years but I was only two years older than my students and had to really keep my distance so they wouldn't see me as their friend. She's in college now and seems to be doing well and I hope she stays well because she's gonna do great things.
"She has been so coddled by her parents..."
The girl who brought her support dog in every day, but used it for everything but support during times of anxiety episodes. She has been so coddled by her parents that she hasn't come to school since October. They were approached by the English teacher, who informed them that he holds after-school work make-ups on Fridays. They answered "We'll have to go ask her, and see if she feels like it."
This student was allowed to leave the room over literally anything that "bothered" her. When confronted by any teacher, she would say that she "doesn't have to," and that's "not in my IEP."
"Weirdest kid I ever taught."
I nicknamed him Legolas. At the most random times he would get out of his chair and pretend to shoot a bow and arrow at all the bad guys in the room. He would do parkour moves off the wall. His little episodes lasted for like 15 seconds then he would sit back down and act like nothing happened the rest of class. Weirdest kid I ever taught.
"Or the kid..."
The one who said his goal was to build a nuclear device in his garage. It was for the middle school boy shock value, but the kids is a genius, so probably could have. He's now studying engineering (or physics?) at Cornell.
Or the kid who used to eat things off the floor as a middle schooler and had never learned how to use a knife to cut food.
Or the kid who used to hiss like a cat until he trusted teachers, at which point he'd start purring. This was an improvement from when he used to bark.
Also, the kid who basically lived in my classroom all day (we ate lunch together and he helped out with some of my wild freshmen) and then was going to be pulled from my class roster because he was failing. Turned out he was failing because he was being so badly neglected that he was a LITTLE more concerned with where he's be sleeping that night and my classroom was the only safe space he had. That was a fun fight with the guidance department and ended up having an impact on the end of year evaluation. Apparently him failing took me into "partially effective" as a teacher. F**k you, Deborah, for telling me it was my fault I focused on getting this kid to feel safe somewhere.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.