Eulogy for a teacher

Speaking at the memorial of a teacher who shaped you is one of the most meaningful things a former student can do. The room will be full of people who knew her as a colleague, a friend, a sister, a mother. You are bringing the classroom into the room, the one place no one else can. The broader frame for a eulogy is in how to write a eulogy.

Start with the classroom

Open with a specific moment from her class. The way she wrote on the board. The book she handed you. The thing she said the day you failed a test. The audience does not need the syllabus. They need the moment.

Example opening

Mrs. Lawson was my tenth grade English teacher. She is the reason I am a reader. She is the reason I am a writer. And thirty years later, when I sit down at my desk every morning, she is the voice that says, write the first sentence and worry about it later.

What to include about a teacher

• The subject she taught and the year she taught you
• One specific scene from her classroom
• The thing she made you believe about yourself
• A line she said often, in her own words
• What you carry from her, into your work or your parenting

Speak to her family

Near the end, look directly at her family and tell them what you came to tell them. I am one of thousands of students she made better. Every one of those students lives in a world that is a little kinder because of her. Thank you for sharing her with us. That is the line they will keep.

If you are speaking on behalf of a class

Reach out to two or three former classmates and ask each of them for one sentence. Read those sentences in the eulogy, attributed by name. A chorus of attributed voices, the students she shaped, is the moment her family will replay for years.

Practical day-of notes are in how to read a eulogy without crying. For a softer opening line, see eulogy opening lines.

When you are ready, Stillwith helps you draft yours.