PEN Mondays - What's Your Legacy?

4 min read

If you’re new here, welcome to PEN Mondays, where we explore more of the socio-emotional aspects of teaching. You’ll see us again on Wednesday with a brand new tech tool and academic study to supercharge your classroom.

Cold Coffee and Existential Crises

It always starts the same way. You’re halfway through your second iced coffee of the morning, sitting in the calm hum of your summer break, when it hits you: What exactly am I building here?

It’s the kind of thought that sneaks in between trips to the farmer’s market and half-hearted attempts to declutter your Google Drive.

And while it might feel dramatic, it’s not unusual. Teaching is one of the few professions where you’re constantly pouring into others, day after day, year after year.

It’s only natural to pause and wonder: Is any of this sticking?

And let’s be honest, it’s not just the deep philosophical stuff. Sometimes you wonder if your legacy is going to be that one time you accidentally launched a dry-erase marker across the room and nailed a student’s water bottle.

Or that the ninth graders will remember you not as an intellectual force, but as “the one who always had granola bar crumbs on their shirt.”

The truth is, legacy isn't always about grand gestures. Sometimes, it starts in the mundane.

And sometimes it begins in a completely silent classroom where everyone’s weirdly focused - including you.

More Than Just Curriculum

Here’s the reality: you’re not just teaching math, or history, or sentence structure.

You’re teaching kids. Full, complicated, fidgety humans with emotions and snack wrappers and dreams they’re afraid to admit out loud. And while yes, meeting curriculum goals is important (we’re not trying to get anyone in trouble with their department head), there’s something deeper at work.

Every day, you’re modeling what it looks like to navigate the world with care, curiosity, and just enough sarcasm to keep things interesting.

When students remember you years from now, it’s likely not going to be your flawless PowerPoint on the causes of World War I. It’ll be how you paused to ask if they were okay.

How you let them re-do that assignment because they finally admitted their brain was scrambled that week. How you shared a laugh with them - not at their expense, but in a moment of real connection.

That’s legacy. And the wild part? It’s happening whether you realize it or not.

Legacy Is Built in the Small Stuff

There’s this myth that legacies are grand, dramatic things. That they’re built on unforgettable speeches or awe-inspiring lesson plans.

But most of us build them one moment at a time: showing up, staying kind when it’s hard, and pushing students just enough to grow without breaking them.

It’s less movie montage, more daily sitcom with occasional plot twists.

You don’t need to be the teacher who changed someone’s entire life trajectory in one day. You just need to be the one who was kind, who held boundaries, who made them feel safe enough to learn. That’s the legacy. 

And if you're ever unsure, just ask yourself: “What small thing did I do today that made someone’s day a little lighter?” That’s the good stuff. That’s the stuff they’ll carry with them.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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