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You Must Train Teachers
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In 1903, Helen published an autobiography. The Story of My Life appeared a year before her graduation from Radcliffe in 1904. A section of the autobiography contains letters Anne wrote to Sophia Hopkins on her arrival in Tuscumbia. They describe how she taught Helen.
After reading these published letters, Alexander Graham Bell wrote to Anne. He urged her to educate others in her methods. He lovingly scolded her for not making the letters known sooner to the Volta Bureau. He pointed out that they showed how methodically she taught Helen and how her practices would help all teachers:
Why in all the world did you not tell us about those letters to Mrs. Hopkins, when we were preparing the Volta Bureau souvenirs; they are of the greatest value and importance, and contain internal evidence of the fact that you were entirely wrong when you gave us the idea that you proceeded without method in the education of Helen, and only acted on the spur of the moment, in everything you did. These letters to Mrs. Hopkins will become a standard, the principles that guided you in the early education of Helen are of the greatest importance to all teachers. They are TRUE and the way in which you carried them out shows—what I have all along recognized that Helen's progress was as much due to her teacher as to herself, and that your personality and the admirable methods you pursued were integral ingredients of Helen's progress.
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