Teacher Appreciation Week
After a long year of pandemic, Ohioans have a special obligation to celebrate National Teacher Appreciation Week, May 3 to 7. Through many months of classroom shutdowns and disrupted learning, teachers who already serve in a challenging profession have carried even greater burdens. The year ahead, as teachers and students work their way back to normal, will be difficult as well.
The pandemic has been hard on many professions. Millions of Americans — healthcare workers, first-responders and so many others in addition to teachers — deserve recognition for their service in stressful and uncertain times.
But I have special reasons to highlight the extraordinary work of teachers and educators who adapted so quickly and effectively to the pandemic. As an educator myself, I understand what it means to have the normal patterns of teaching and learning turned on their ear. And as chancellor of Western Governors University Ohio, I see hundreds of students in our Teachers College graduate each year, going on to educate and mentor Ohio’s next generation of leaders.
We must not miss this opportunity to show our appreciation to teachers and to strengthen our commitment to the men and women who make education such a noble career.
