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To somewhat inappropriately quote Alice Cooper, for retiring teachers, "school is out for summer, school's out forever."

The school year is winding down and while almost everyone is happy — at least a little, admit it — to see classes end for the summer, the last day of school will have special meaning for those teachers who are retiring.

And as the retiring teachers and professors exit their posts, it won't be long before their absence is felt in the schools they leave behind. When a person is such a fixture and so part of the fabric of a place it's hard to imagine life without them.

We were reminded of this last week during a tribute to Bill Greer, an associate professor of journalism who is retiring from the University of Arizona after 28 years of teaching. As a video montage of students and colleagues offering thanks and best wishes to Greer played at the department's awards banquet, it became clear how one teacher can have a profound effect on hundreds, if not thousands, of people over a career.

Greer, who had worked as a photojournalist for the Associated Press and newspapers before coming to the UA in 1980, made an indelible impression on students. He got to know his students as people, cared about them as individuals, pushed them to excel, and they returned the favor. It wasn't pure technical expertise that made Bill Greer stand out, it was his heart.

There are other Bill Greers out there, in other schools and other college departments.

Take a minute, think about the teachers who made a big impact on your life and say thanks.

The teachers we remember best usually aren't the popular teachers or the easy teachers. And often the lessons remembered years later have nothing to do with algebra or history or science — it's the kindness, the time spent, the high expectations that resonate.

Education is often boiled down to scores on standardized tests. This simplistic approach tries to force the process of learning into a finite task like making widgets on a factory line — if scores go up, the teacher must be good and if scores go down, the teacher must be bad. There is some truth there — an effective teacher finds ways to help students learn and a bad teacher doesn't.

But ignoring the totality of what teachers do — or what they can do — in their students' lives shortchanges everyone.

It's important for students to have teachers who connect with them in the classroom. It's important for teachers to have broad life experiences, to be able to see the world from their students' points of view.

Thousands of textbook pages filled with educationese jargon have been written about best teaching practices, instructional strategies and classroom management. While important, mastering these techniques doesn't make a professional a true teacher.

Teachers aren't in it for the money or the glory of public education. Many teachers are teachers because they want to help. And the best gift anyone can give teachers is to let them know they did make a difference, and that they're remembered.