Write a note to a teacher who’s retiring. You might be the only former student who ever does.

A teacher can spend thirty years changing how people think and hear almost nothing back about it. Thanks tends to travel forward, toward the next grade and the next thing. Most students assume someone else has already written. Usually nobody has.

Find out whether a teacher you had is leaving, and send a few lines before the term ends. Name one specific thing: a comment they made, a book they pushed on you, an afternoon they stayed late. Specifics land harder than praise, and this takes about five minutes.