A Significant Influence: Describing an Important Teacher in Your Life - National Council of Teachers of English
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A Significant Influence: Describing an Important Teacher in Your Life

Author and journalist Mitch Albom was born on this day in 1958. Albom was originally known for sports writing, but he is more known for his inspirational stories and themes. One popular text by Albom is Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson. It went on to become one of the top selling memoirs of all time.

All of us have had a teacher who has made a profound difference in our lives—someone who changed our lives, made us think more deeply, set our feet on the right path. Perhaps it was a teacher we met in a classroom, but it could just have easily been a coach, a youth group leader, a family or community elder, or a religious leader.

This lesson plan from ReadWriteThink.org, using Tuesdays with Morrie as a mentor, invites students to write a tribute to such a teacher, someone who has taught them an important lesson that they still remember. The personal essays that students write for this lesson can be published in a class collection. Because writing about someone who has been a significant influence is a typical topic for college application essays, the lesson’s extensions include resources for writing more traditional, formal papers.

Is there a teacher or instructor who has inspired you?

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