Should I stop emailing my past teacher?
I, 18M, am in my second semester of college. Last year, I had a teacher that I had a really good relationship with.
Here’s the full background.
I got to school around 7, and classes started at 7:40, so from 7-7:25, I would be chilling with my friends in the cafeteria, just hanging out and talking. Then I would usually head up to his room for a small chat, or just a comfortable silence from 7:25-7:30 or 7:35. Then I would head to my first period. Unless of course, he had other teachers in there, in which case, I would skip going to his room, and head straight to first period.
Wordy, I know, but I didn’t want to come across as overbearing(unless I actually was overbearing. But I asked him multiple times and he didn’t say I was, so I’m inclined to believe that).
Anyways, besides our morning chats, I saw him all the time.
• On my route to class during passing period. He always stood outside his door to greet students as they walked in, so I would usually go for a quick fist bump before continuing my route.
• During class. I had him as one of my teachers, if that wasn’t obvious already.
• During study hall. I almost always got his permission and a pass to go to his room for study hall. I was still productive, but productive in a room where I actually liked the teacher. Study hall was also on a different day than when I had his class, so I basically had his class every day.
• Even sometimes after dismissal. The teacher’s parking lot and the bus loop are located in the same place, and my last class on A days was right next to the exit, so I would see him almost all the time and as usual, went for a quick fist bump before he left.
The only exceptions were obviously when either him or I had not gone to school on a certain day.
Due to seeing him all the time, I felt like we had developed a really solid relationship.
This teacher was one I trusted fully. I had started to talk to him about some things I was dealing with mentally, but decided to stop because it was entering “report to counselor” territory. I had also talked to him about a humiliating incident that involved another teacher(I didn’t say who, though. I’m not a snitch), and he had given me some pretty solid advice.
We talked a lot about random stuff, video games being the primary source of discussion. One time, he was asked by a student to be a sponsor for a club that involved the Pokemon Trading Card Game, and since Pokémon is a BIG obsession of mine, I was able to guide him through the rules of TCG.
During Teacher Appreciation Week, I had hand-written him a note thanking him for all that he had done for me that year. At the end of the year, I requested that I email him once a month. Personally? I would’ve preferred it to be biweekly, but I felt like that would’ve been too much.
FINALLY we get to my question from the title. Sorry for the long read. I have been following the consistent monthly email, like we both agreed to, but he hasn’t been replying for the past few months. I’m going to chalk it up to him being busy. And I’ve decided I will send an email for Teacher Appreciation Week, but after that, should I stop? I’m sure he’s got loads of emails from current students, staff, parents, etc. And I don’t want to add to that pile.