Ask any teacher, and they’ll tell you that one of the best feelings you can have as an instructor is the moment when a student doesn’t just think of you as the person who is holding them back from going to lunch, but as the person who can actually impart some useful knowledge or change their worldview. And you know that for the rest of that student’s life, that kid is going to remember you as the person who created that moment.

As I get ready to start my eighth year in the classroom as an Engl...