But when I came back, she said, Now, can you control yourself?And I said, Yes, ma’am. And I could.So I want to thank you for teaching me self-control.
Hey, it’s me, Destin. Welcome back to Smart Every Day. I had an opportunity to do an event locally where I got to make a video to thank some of my teachers and it was awesome. When I got done making this video, it was really special. Some of my teachers were actually in it. When I got done, I was like, “This is special. I got to actually thank my teachers, some of the people that formed me and made me who I am.” I wanted people to know about them and know the very specific things they did for me in my life. It was just wonderful.
So I decided that I don’t want to just use this video for this local event. I want everybody to see it because it’s awesome to thank your teachers. If you’ve never done that, I would highly recommend you consider doing this because it feels so good to me and it feels good to them because, like, we’re products of our teachers.
This is the video I made and, like I said, as a part of the event, some of my teachers are in it and they say nice things, which is a little embarrassing to me, but I want you to meet them. I love these people and I’m so proud of them and I’m grateful.
So if you like this, if you enjoy it, and if it makes you feel like it makes me feel when you get done watching it, consider making one of these for your teachers and telling them the things you’ve always felt but they’ve never heard. Because I think there’s power in the spoken word, and I think this could be huge.
My three siblings and I are the product of our hard working and loving parents, Darryl and Terry Sandlin. They’ve spent so much time teaching us so much, but we’re also the product of the Morgan County School system. And we’ve had so many teachers teach us so many wonderful things over the years. I thought it would be appropriate to take this time to say thank you for some very specific things.
I want to say thank you to Miss Maria Yung, my kindergarten teacher. You taught me how to listen and a huge part of learning is listening. I remember sitting around the rocking chair in the room and when it was storytime, we had to be quiet. You brought in people that we could listen to. Chris, his grandfather strikes a memory for me. He was on icebreakers in the Arctic. I remember listening to him and thinking, “That was amazing.” When the traffic light in the corner of your room flipped to red, we had to be quiet. Thank you for teaching me that.
I want to thank my first grade teacher, Mrs. Cowart. When I was learning how to tie my shoes, you were very patient with me. And that was more stressful than you think. I still remember trying to figure out how to lips were poor. Also, that’s when I learned how to speak in front of a group in show and tell in first grade. I had to think about what I wanted to communicate, so those were huge lessons for me.
Ms. Mayfield, my second grade teacher, you kept a tight ship in second grade, but you also taught me that if you work hard, you get to play hard. There was an Atari in the corner of the room, and that was the first moment I got to play Pitfall, which blew my mind. But it wasn’t the focus. Like I wasn’t trying to get to the Atari. I would work hard and then you would reward that work with hard play. And I really enjoyed it. So I still believe that today. Work hard. Play hard. Learned that in second grade. Thank you, Ms. Mayfield.
Mrs. Tepper’s third grade class. What kind of a teacher creates photo albums for their students? Ms. Tepper, That’s who. This was an incredible class. I still remember where I sat and everything. I also want to thank Ms. Tepper for teaching me a very important lesson, and that is self-control. I remember one time I was laughing in class. I couldn’t stop, and Ms. Tepper said, “Why are you laughing, Dest?” And I said, “I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.” She said, “Out in the hall, young man.” And so I didn’t know what happened in the hall. But when I came back, she said, “Now, can you control yourself?” And I said, “Yes, ma’am,” and I could. So I want to thank you for teaching me self-control.
If you enjoy He taught me how to use a drill press and a jigsaw.I still use those tools to this day.
Like, Do you just die there? It was a terrifying thing. So I’m in the hall, and then she comes out and she says, Destin, why are you laughing? And I said, I'm sorry, Ms. Tepper, I cannot tell you. And she said, Well, maybe you could write it down. I said, Yes, I will write it down. And I remember writing it as small as possible to hide my shame. And I can still visually see what I wrote on that paper. I can only imagine, as Ms. Tepper held that up to her face and read Brandon Poo did loud, that was the reason I couldn’t quit laughing in third grade. But she taught me about the importance of keeping control of yourself in a group, and I learned that in third grade I had to go to the hall to learn it, but that was a huge lesson. I love Ms. Tepper. Thank you so much for everything you did for me, by the way. Sorry, Brandon didn’t mean to throw you under the bus there.
I want to say thank you to my fourth grade teacher, the late Mr. Keenan. He took great interest in how I hold my pencil. And I still hold my pencil like Mr. Keenan taught me to to this day. And it matters, like he took the time to invest in how a young man holds his pencil. And it changed how I do this for the rest of my life. And it was that great care and attention to detail that influenced me. Thank you, Mr. Keenan.
I want to say thank you to my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Easley, and I’ve asked her if she’s willing to say a few words because she’s so special and I want you to know who she is. Teaching is something I’ve really enjoyed and I have been retired for a little bit, but there are just some students that you remember and I remember Destin. He was special and he was vertically challenged, but he didn’t know he was. That was the special thing about him. He was so confident. He had all this charisma and he had a little posse of boys that were always with him, his friends. So that’s what I really remember about him and asking questions and into things and always wanting to do science experiments. So over the years even I used his story and story about him being vertically challenged whenever I would have another vertically challenged child in my class. And it always seemed to work. He was angelic. I love her.
But one thing that always confused me is she read this book to us called Miss Nelson is Missing, and in this book it tells a story about a class that has a substitute teacher come to school one day. Viola Swamp. And the weird thing about this is after she read this book to us the next day and miss easily this class none other than Viola Swamp walks into the room and it’s almost like she looked a little bit like Ms. Easley, but she kind of said the things that I think Ms. Easley would really want to say. I don’t know. It was just it was a really weird experience. Oh, I’d take time out of my schedule to do this. Oh my gosh, I’m glad to be here. But I’m missing a day of substitute pay, which you wouldn’t believe how much we make now. Amazing kids. I remember one in particular, Destin something saying I can’t remember. Oh, my goodness. I always ask the questions. Imagine that score. She really did look a lot like Viola Swamp. Yeah, that’s so weird. Yeah, we were in fifth grade. We couldn’t see it, though.
Looking back at the sixth, seventh and eighth grade years, it was great for junior high school. They were fantastic. I mean, the teachers really poured into us. Mrs. Wallace taught me about algebra in the Beta Club. She took us skiing, which was a pretty big deal for a young man from Alabama. I remember the time Miss Teague in our tag class, Tas Agnew did something in class and we decided just to put him on trial right then and there. Tollie and the others wanted to know if the death penalty was on the table. We decided against that, but we learned a lot about injustice in in our tag class. That was amazing. Ms. Went and taught me the importance of poetry and how to slip the surly bonds of Earth. Miss Henry taught me how to make milkshakes and how to sew boxers. I still have the gun rack. I made it. Mr. Hurd shop class. He taught me how to use a drill press and a jigsaw. I still use those tools She had a sign up on the wall that said, “Write every day.“And I did.
Coach Pope taught me how to be a leader, even though I was the smallest kid on the basketball court. Coach Williams took me and my friends Adrian and my buddies to the 1994 Alabama Technology fair, which made my world so much bigger. Mr. Chance taught us how to collaborate and work together in groups, even though he might have been a nerdy little boy. Jan Sanders, my school bus driver, and Ms. Maples kept the school running, as well as the lunchroom ladies. Miss Teague taught me Algebra two and trigonometry, and Coach Booth taught me calculus. Ms. Morrow in particular helped me with summer reading, and I loved learning Shakespeare and mythology from her. Miss Hodges class changed my life, as she pushed me in certain ways and encouraged me to participate in Science Olympiad. My buddy Stevo and I built a Rube Goldberg machine, and thanks to Ms. Hodges leadership, we won the bottle rocket competition in the state. Lastly, my 11th and 12th grade English teacher, Ms. Russian, made me write every day, which has been an invaluable skill. Walking into the class and having to start writing, she knew there was a communicator on the inside and wanted to make him communicate. She took the time to have meaningful arguments with me in order to help me learn how to communicate well. Math and science may be important, but communication is key. Her Russian teacher taught me how to explain complicated things in simple terms.
Looking through the yearbooks, seeing all the teachers who invested so much time in me made me feel grateful. Even when I put something on the internet and got a lot of positive comments, I know I’m just an Alabama kid who was fortunate enough to have teachers speaking into my life when I needed it.
To show my appreciation, I’m challenging everyone to get their yearbooks, look at them and think about what their teachers did for them. Then, point the phone at the yearbook and say something to their teacher that they always wanted to say. Let’s use the hashtag #ThankYourTeacher to share the fruit of all the work they have done. It’s a beautiful way to show our appreciation.