It's Teacher Appreciation Week! Many of us provide lunch and lattes, flowers and chocolates for our teachers during this week, which is wonderful. But how about writing them a note to tell them exactly what it is we appreciate about them?

I have two teachers who still stand out in my mind, and unwittingly helped me become a writer. The first is my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Voake at Marion W. Cross Elementary School in Norwich, VT. Her room was always welcoming and creative. She had us listen to records and write or draw to the music; it was the first time I heard that there was no right or wrong, it just was. She was quiet and kind and had a lot of books around. What a good thing!

The second teacher that stands our for me is Mr. Tim Dunn, my sophomore English teacher at Keene High School in Keene, NH. On the first day of school he told us he was a million years old, had a ringing in his ears, and loved to write. He gave specific and encouraging feedback on our essays. It is because he loved my 2 page satire on preppy girls that I believed that maybe someday I could write. He was a great role model, showing us that writers were not something other than us; they were among us; they were us. He worked hard at his craft of poetry and published his own book on an antique letter press. It is a thing of beauty.

I may need to look up these two wonderful teachers to tell them what a difference they made in my life. Which teachers made a difference in your life?