From Em and Ella’s notebooks last week, I received a couple of flyers indicating that during the coming week, Forest Acres would be celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week.
Seeing as one of my beats is coverage of the SDPC and board meetings, I thought this would be a great opportunity to devote our Lifestyles page to saying thank you to all of the teachers in Pickens County who help make our community a better place through the work they do with our children.
In the U.S., National Teacher Appreciation Day and Week is typically observed on the Tuesday of the first full week of May. As a result, the specific date varies from year to year.
Regardless of when it is celebrated, National Teacher Day and Teacher Appreciation Week are remarkable opportunities for all of us — whether we are past or current students — to show our appreciation for those teachers who inspired us along the way or inspire our children each day.
Although the exact origins of National Teacher Day and Appreciation Week are not known with absolute certainty, legend has it that around 1944, Arkansas teacher Mattye Whyte Woodridge began corresponding with political and educational leaders about the need for a national day to honor teachers and show teacher appreciation.
Woodbridge wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt, who in 1953 persuaded the 81st Congress to proclaim a National Teacher Day that would serve to the purpose of celebrating teacher appreciation across the nation.
The National Education Association (NEA), along with its Kansas and Indiana state affiliates and the Dodge City (Kan.) Local newspaper, lobbied Congress to create a national day celebrating teachers. Congress declared March 7, 1980, as National Teacher Day for that year only.
NEA and its affiliates continued to observe Teacher Day on the first Tuesday in March until 1985, when NEA and the National PTA established Teacher Appreciation Week as the first full week of May. The NEA Representative Assembly then voted to make the Tuesday of that week National Teacher Day.
The State of Massachusetts has had its own separate Teachers’ Day, on the 11th of September, since 1976.
Teachers are true heroes in our communities who, through their dedication to children, work millions of small miracles every day. The vast majority of teachers in the United States are proud to be advocates for children, public education, and their profession.
National Teacher Day focuses on the contributions teachers make to help children succeed in school and in life. Like showing our appreciation for our mothers, fathers and grandparents, teacher appreciation should not be limited to one day or week, however, the establishment of one particular time of the year for teacher appreciation serves to help us remember what a paramount role teachers play in society.