Teachers Are Out of This World-Celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week May 6th-10th

This year we’ve talked a lot about writing, publishing, and promoting your book because that’s what I love to do both personally and professionally. But I want to take a moment this week to pay tribute to teachers across the country.

Teacher Appreciation week is very important to me. As a professional book coach, writer, and former collegiate professor, I will forever be grateful to the teachers who ignited my love for all things “books.” I’ve always had an interest in reading and excelled in writing as a youngster, but it was my teachers who kept me motivated to pursue my dreams. They were always there to offer a kind word of encouragement when I felt discouraged. I believe there isn’t enough appreciation in our world for teachers. You usually only hear about the bad ones when there are millions of terrific teachers who do what they do, simply because they care. Teachers are often underpaid, criticized, and unappreciated for the job they do: to help shape and guide today’s youth. That, in my opinion, deserves more than a simple “thanks.”

 I believe that our problems—all of them—can be solved, and that the answers are trapped inside of everyday people like you. If we didn’t have teachers to educate, inspire, lead, and cultivate the natural gifts that each person has, think about all the problems that would’ve gone unsolved.

Take a look at what some of these leaders have to say about their former teachers:

“My high school band director, Virgil Spurlin, had a huge impact on my life. Not because he was a particularly great band director. He was quite good, but he was a world-class human being. He took a personal interest in kids, and seemed to instinctively know when they were having trouble at home or having trouble in school, and always to know what to say to them and more importantly maybe what questions to ask to find out what was really going on in their lives. He also was always looking for things that young people could do besides play music. We put on the state band festival every year, for example, and he let lots of us help. And he taught us basic organizational skills and how to allocate resources and move things around. But always he was trying to find things that people were good at. He thought that everybody was good at something and if he just looked hard enough he could find it, he could convince them of it, and he could raise their aspirations and their hopes. He was unbelievable. All my life I thought of him. I stayed in touch with him on and off until he passed away. I really felt that my early years with him convinced me that I could organize and run things. That I could do whatever I wanted to do and that I could actually marshal other people in a common effort, and of course if you’re in politics that’s very important.”                 

-Bill Clinton

“There’s no way there would have been a Microsoft without what they did.”

-Bill Gates

“I credit my education to Ms. Mabel Hefty just as much as I would any institution of higher learning. She taught me that I had something to say — not in spite of my differences, but because of them. She made every single student in that class feel special.”

-Barack Obama

"I doubt I will ever meet another person who had the impact on my life that my English teacher at Episcopal High School did. All children should have a teacher like I had, who they remember when they have children and grandchildren as one of the most fortunate relationships in their lives."

-Senator John McCain

Ways to Get Involved for Teacher Appreciation Week

The theme for this year’s Teacher Appreciation Week is “Teachers Deliver.” There are countless ways you can get involved this week and show your support for the teachers who have impacted your life. You don’t have to do anything fancy. A simple letter, email, or phone call to the teacher(s) that helped shape the person you are today would be great. Social media is also a great way to get involved. Check out this Promotional Event Toolkit from the National PTA for other ways to celebrate the teachers in your life.

What about you? Do you have a story to tell that can save lives, change lives, or transform society? When you share what you know and what you’ve learned, you become the solution. The answers are inside of you.

If you or someone you know has always wanted to write a book, reach out to us, and we can help make it happen!