Thank You Mr. Finn
A teacher appreciation letter to our beloved Mr. Finn
In the village of El Modena, in room A19, resides an amazing English teacher. The great Mr. Finn. This teacher has gone to such great lengths to ensure that his students not only understand the material, but he will make sure we have fun and learn some important life lessons along the way.
Mr. Finn made us really think about our future and what we wanted to do with our lives. Thanks to him, I have a positive attitude and outlook on life. I’ve always had this appreciation for all my English teachers. They’re such kind souls and have this genuine warmth to them.
Mr. Finn even made reading old classic books such as “Of Mice and Men” and “Billy Budd” entertaining. Additionally, he would show us clips of movies to make us more engaged and interested in the topic.
Last year at the beginning of quarantine, Mr. Finn would record his lessons and send them to us through Google Classroom. If you’ve ever had Mr. Finn, you know his lessons are never normal nor are they boring.
Mr. Finn would give his lesson while he was out on a run showing us trees and such or even while he was exercising with his punching bag and on his treadmill. One time he recorded near his fireplace and kept switching hats everytime he would imitate someone from our book.
When we were in class he would make writing competitions. The goal was to see who could make up a dark story and imitate Edgar Allan Poe’s writing style the most. We would then read random classmates’ papers (anonymous of course) and determine which one was the most similar and send it to the “finals.”
The prize for winning each writing contest was extra credit and some money too. Even some students who wouldn’t participate during the year, did the assignment.
In the beginning of the year, he made us think about what we wanted to be in the future. He made us research our dream job and what we needed to do to be able to achieve that job. He opened our eyes to what we would become and encouraged us to achieve whatever we wanted in life.
He honed our speaking, reading, writing, comprehension and even communication skills the best he could. We never had to publicly present anything to the class individually, but we would move tables and do mini presentations, or we would also move one student each time and have them collect information and later on share with the table.
When you enter his classroom you see representation, diversity, and even a little bit like home, if you will.
Every teacher of course cares for their students, but some really do go the extra mile and I deeply appreciate it. Thank you Mr. Finn for showing us kindness, and for all the great memories and laughter we all shared. Thank you for being our English teacher.
