National Teacher Appreciation Week
May 2 – 6 is National Teacher Appreciation Week.
I’m proud to be a retired teacher and have made a difference in the lives of many individuals. One kindergarten student in my 1987 class came with knowing all the alphabets and numbers. She was the first Jamaican student in our school. Her bright eyes sparked with confidence. Smiled all the time with the thick lips curled up at both corners.
What could I teach her? The rest of the class barely learned A for Apple, B for Boy, C for Cat, so on and so forth.
I made individual curriculum, challenging learning for Mayshall. At the third grade, she was tested as a GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) student. She continued to excel throughout high school and college. After graduated from Cornell University, she came back home in Southern California and brought me a college sweater. Why a joy to see the success of a student!
“Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.” – Confucius
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” – Albert Einstein
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” —Warren Buffet
“Free the child’s potential, and you will transform him into the world.” – Maria Montessori
“A good teacher can inspire hope; ignite the imagination and instill a love of learning.” – Brad Henry
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry Brooks Adams
“Teachers teach because they care. Teaching young people is what they do best. It requires long hours, patience, and care.” – Horace Mann
“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.” – Mark Van Doren
“Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – John C. Maxwell
“Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them.” —Lady Bird Johnson
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The Showers of Blessings 
Thank you for getting my attention on it.
Happy National Teacher Appreciation Week!
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Thank you very much!!
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I love these quotes, Miriam. Thanks for sharing.
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You’re welcome. I love them also. 🙂
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I love this!
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Thank you so much for reading!!
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That’s wonderful, it sounds like you did a wonderful job for Mayshall and it’s sweet she returned to show her gratitude to you. Some teachers, like yourself, can make such a huge difference. It’s important to value those teachers, and I know there are a couple I can think fondly of now for their impact on me, too. Happy National Teacher Appreciation Week! 🙂
Caz xx
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Thank you for reading and comment, Caz. I’m thankful to have some great teachers in my early years to give me the confidence needed throughout my life. 🙂 xox
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Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, Miriam! Teachers should be appreciated all year round in my opinion. This is a lovely post, my friend! ❤ xo
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Thank you, Vashti. I agree with you that teachers should be appreciated all year round. Many of my parents were very good in showing their appreciation in many occasions year round. Mayshall’s mother gave me crystal every year for 7 years and I have a good collection of crystal items. ❤ xox
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That’s wonderful, Miriam. You deserve to be appreciated. I’m happy to hear that. ❤ xo
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Thank you, Vashti. I only taught up to 4th grade, didn’t experience the hard part for teaching upper grades and high school. It would have been a different story. ❤
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I see what you mean. 😀 xo
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🙂 🙂
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Happy National Teachers Appreciation week, Miriam. Wonderful quotes and a beautiful story about a student.
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Please read my first post
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Fabulous post
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Thank you!!
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Children are like breath of fresh air, eager to fly on the wings of imagination. We are blessed to be a part of their lives. Thank you for this lovely post Miriam.
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You’re welcome, Balroop. Happy teacher appreciation week to you! 🙂
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To you too Miriam 🤗
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You’re welcome, Balroop. 🙂
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That’s marvelous, Miriam. I have tried to honor some of my grammar school teachers by naming minor book characters after them.
Did you know that in the USA. May is “Get Caught Reading Month”? Hugs!
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Oh, I didn’t know that, Teagan. Thank you for getting my attention on it. I know there is a Reading Across America. I used to organize a “Readathon” at school and invited city officials to read to all the classrooms.
I’ll search info for “Get Caught Reading Month” and see if my former school is doing anything. I saw them having a Book Fair last week from Monday to Friday.
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Here’s a link to the official site http://www.getcaughtreading.org/
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Great, Teagan. Thank you for passing it along to me.
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I’ll pass this info along to some teachers see if they want to get some posters. Thank you again, Teagan.
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I did a post to see if any teachers want to order celebrity posters or sponsor. Thank you again, Teagan.
https://theshowersofblessings.com/2019/05/07/may-is-get-caught-reading-month-order-posters-of-celebrity-reading-a-book/
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My pleasure, Miriam. I try to do something for the event each May. Although I’ve missed a couple of years. Next Wednesday, Chris Graham, the Story Reading Ape and I collaborate on a short story for it. We’ve done a couple of mini-series, but this one is just a one shot. Thanks for the link. More hugs!
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This is lovely, Teagan. I look forward to see your post with Chris. I’ll be away for 6 days for Mother’s Day week, spending time with my granddaughter.
Reading enriches life tremendously. My daughter read to my granddaughter from day 1 of Autumn’s life. Now she reads by herself starting from 14 months old. We’re so happy to see it.
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Oh the joys of teaching! We learn so much from our students and treasure each one–I taught 4th & 5th graders + 6th, 7th & 6th graders as an ESL teacher. Blessings all!
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Yes, exactly, Bette. I’m glad you share the same joy of teaching. I thought I wish to have chosen different career but come to thinking of it, I’m natural in teaching. I enjoyed teaching in the sense that I knew how to help students learn. Yes, we learned along the way we we taught!!
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I taught high school for many years and still remain in touch with many of my former students. It’s so rewarding to see what they are now doing!
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I know, it’s rewarding to see the former students doing so well. With the social media, it’s even easier to be in touch with them. I feel like I’m part of their families!
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You are so right. Many of my former students now have their own children who are in high school. It makes me feel old! 🙂
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You must have started teaching as soon as you came out of college. When my superintendent retired, she had worked for 41 years and she was not quite 65 yet. 🙂 By now, her students from her first year of teaching would have been married with children also. 🙂
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I started teaching high school when I was 40, and I was teaching 17 and 18-year-old high school students. I retired when I was 64 so I could take care of my invalid husband, and now I’m 66, so those high school students are in their 40s now. That’s what makes me feel old. 🙂
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Oh, I see. my first students were 6 years old. 66 is not too old in these days with many Bloomers living to 90s. I admire people who take care of their spouses. Hope you’d have time take care of your self also. Do you have anyone to release you so you could do things for yourself? 🙂
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No, I have no one to help me with my husband. I take him with me whenever I run errands or go to the store, and he sits in the car and waits for me. He is able to walk with a walker, but he has lost half of his eyesight. He can go places with me but doesn’t have the strength to walk very much. Sometimes I can let him stay with my sister if I have a doctor appointment. She lives about 30 miles away.
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I’m glad your sister lives close to you. A friend’s husband is in the same predicament. She also can’t go anywhere and has to take him wherever she goes. He used to be so active. He was one of my workshop speakers when I organized conferences for parents.
One blogger also has to care for her husband. She said the she’s grateful he is alive.
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There are so many people in this same situation. I have a good friend who takes care of her mother this way, and she and I communicate every day and support one another in whatever ways we can.
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Yes, the same friend also takes care of her mom also. I’m glad you have a supporting friend!!
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I was once a teacher myself for a long time..and like you those students to whom we have made a difference in their lives keep on coming back..for now i cant remember how many timea have i become a godmother to my students children or even a godmother to their weddings too..
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It’s wonderful you keep in touch with them and be part of them in their lives when they’re grown up. I think it’s rewarding and a privilege knowing we extend ourselves into the next generations and the next.
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It takes a lot to be a teacher. Thank you for the post! 🙂
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Thank you, Amy. 🙂
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I bet you made such a big impact on that girl. Wonderful Teachers do that.
I guess I was a teacher at one point in my life. I taught computer courses at a private for a few years if that counts:). I loved that job.
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Of course, it counts, Susan, teaching in any capacity counts. I’m glad to hear you did that!
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