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Thank you for everything you have done this year to help students be successful, we celebrate your success, ingenuity, and hard work! Hip, Hip, Hurray! Hip, Hip, Hurray!

Summer break is here, and it is a time to relax! Especially this year it will be important for you to unwind and become a healthier you. The pandemic has taken its toll on mental and emotional health, and perhaps even physical health.

We hope you enjoy time away from the classroom. Do something physically rejuvenating like walk every morning, bike, aerobics or swim.

Now that you have had your Covid vaccine, you can get away, vacation to the mountains, the lake, or a national/state park. Visit the zoo, the aviary or the Living Planet.

Take some alone time, read a favorite author, meditate, breathe.

Do spend time with those you love or haven’t seen in a while. Reacquaint with friends and enjoy their company. Eat at your favorite restaurant.

Get plenty of sleep, drink lots of water, eat generous amounts of fruit and colorful vegetables, enjoy family time.

May this summer be relaxing and joyful. Come back refreshed, happy, and enthusiastic. Thank you again for all you have done for children. You have been amazing!!

With gratitude, your district mentor teacher specialists,

Debbie Fisher, Judy Jackman, Trisha Tingey, Amy Wood

I am grateful for the hard work teachers do to provide wonderful learning experiences for students every day. I appreciate the kindness, generosity, and patience of teachers. They never give up; they are wiling to try new things; they do creative things to reach every student. Teachers do not stay on the sidelines; they are part of a team, making a thousand decisions a day for benefit of students.
--Dr. Anthony Godfrey

This is the value of the teacher, who looks at a face and says there's something behind that and I want to reach that person, I want to influence that person, I want to encourage that person, I want to enrich, I want to call out that person who is behind that face, behind that color, behind that language, behind that tradition, behind that culture. I believe you can do it. I know what was done for me.
—Maya Angelou

The power of an effective teacher is something almost all of us have experienced and understand on a personal level. If we were particularly fortunate, we had numerous exceptional teachers who made school an exciting and interesting place. Those teachers possessed a passion for the subjects that they taught and genuine care for the students with whom they worked. They inspired us to play with ideas, think deeply about the subject matter, take on more challenging work, and even pursue careers in a particular field of study. Some exceptional teachers achieve celebrity status, such as Jaime Escalante, the math teacher who inspired the
film Stand and Deliver, but thousands of unsung heroes go unrecognized in their remarkable work with students on a daily basis
-- Pamela D. Tucker and James H. Stronge

Yesterday was National Teacher Appreciation Day! Thank you teachers!

Do you know the origins of National Teacher Day? It is believed it began in 1944. An Arkansas teacher, Mattye Whytte Woodridge was writing to political and educational leaders asking for a national day for teachers to be honored. One of her letters made it to the desk of Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1953, Mrs. Roosevelt worked with groups like National Educators Association (NEA) to convince congress that there should be a national teacher day. 

It took decades for congress to declare the first National Teacher Day on March 1, 1980, and it was only for that year. But a movement had started to make it an annual thing with NEA on the first Tuesday in March. In 1985, the NEA Representative Assembly voted that the first Tuesday in March would be National Teacher Day. Then, the National Parent Teacher Association decided to take this a step further and decided the first full week of May would be Teacher Appreciation Week. 

To learn more about Mattye Whytte Woodridge and the history of National Teacher Day, check out this blog post:

https://blog.learningsciences.com/2019/05/03/mattie-whyte-woodridge-the-inspiring-history-of-teacher-appreciation-week/

Take time on social media to thank teachers or colleagues you know with this hashtag #ThankATeacher

There are a few different social media campaigns you can participate in.

This is NEA's Teacher Appreciation Week Prompts. Visit their website for graphics to post with it!

http://www.nea.org/grants/teacherday.html

  • Monday: What’s one thing you’ve learned recently about the work that teachers do?
  • Tuesday: Tag teachers (or colleagues) in your life and let them know how much you appreciate them.
  • Wednesday: Ask a teacher (or colleague) “What can I do to help?”
  • Thursday: Post a #TBT that brings back memories of your favorite teacher.
  • Friday: How has a teacher (or colleague or student) helped you make it through this week with a little more joy?
State Superintendent Syd Dickson shared a Teacher Appreciation campaign as well on Twitter!

Thanks for all you do!

Dr. Helen Caldicott, a world renowned Australian physician, stated, “Teachers, I believe, are the most responsible and important members of society because their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth.”

You have taken a remarkable leap in education lately. Please know we value your amazing efforts, also parents appreciate your diligence on behalf of their children. Stay the course!

I (Mentor Specialist Debbie Fisher) watched my granddaughter complete her classwork online today. She was so proud of her accomplishments. It reminded me of this quote:

"The greatest sign of success for a teacher...is to be able to say, 'The children are now working as if I did not exist.'"

~Maria Motessori

Teachers are making an amazing difference for their students today. Keep it going!

 

“Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.”

~John F. Kennedy

“The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life.”

~Plato

“I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.”

~Alexander the Great    Your contributions of time, talent, and support offer great opportunities to kids, truly making a difference in their lives.  

Thanks for all you do!