Celebrate Teachers -- This Week and Year Round!
NCTE INBOX 4-30-13
Next week brings us Teacher Appreciation Week! Since 1984, the National PTA has designated time each May for communities nationwide to honor teachers for their work with children. See the following resources from NCTE and ReadWriteThink.org for ideas on how you can celebrate teachers as well as yourself and your colleagues.
Sarah Brown Wessling, high school English teacher, NCTE member, and a past National Teacher of the Year, shares her thoughts on the far-reaching impact that teachers have on others in her post "Dear Teacher: You. Make. A. Difference" (G).
"Dear Teachers: Letters to Another Hero" (G) from Voices from the Middle presents 54 thank-you letters written by authors (of children's literature, young adult literature, and professional texts) to classroom teachers, from the shadow of the events of September 11, 2001. The authors offer their thanks for teachers' efforts to face those events with children, sharing their personal thoughts about the events or their thoughts on the power of literature in dark times.
Author Pat Mora, in this letter of praise to educators (G) from English Journal, suggests that teachers need to be writers to better teach writing. Helping students "bring themselves to the page" through their writing is one way to get them to know the joy of books.
Who are the key educators who contributed to a century-long professional history in the development of writing theory and pedagogy? Read about some of them in "Teaching Writing on the Shoulders of Giants" (G) from Language Arts.
Donald Murray is an educator who made an impact on many. Read in College Composition and Communication about an appreciation of him and his many contributions and meaningful connections.
Encourage students to write tributes to teachers who have made a profound difference in their lives, then publish their work in a class collection in the lesson plan A Significant Influence: Describing an Important Teacher in Your Life.
As NCTE Past President Yvonne Siu-Runyan states, "Telling our stories is one of the most important things we can do for those we teach as well as for our profession."
The National Education Association has provided numerous resources for celebrating National Teacher Day during Teacher Appreciation Week, including ideas and activities and a post in which celebrities name their most memorable teachers.
Share your thoughts and ideas about teachers on NCTE's Connected Community or on Twitter using the hashtag #thankateacher.
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