United States Teacher Day and Teacher Appreciation Week

This week we are celebrating. United States Teacher Day and Teacher Appreciation Week. Traditionally, the Tuesday of the first full week of May is the National Teacher Day in the USA. Therefore the actual date varies from one year to another. Teacher Day is a remarkable occasion for all of us to show our teacher appreciation, whether we are students or we wish to compliment a former teacher, or our kids’ teachers. Additionally, the whole week is considered as the Teacher Appreciation Week, and lots of activities are carried out on this occasion.

United States Teacher Day and WeekThe origins of Teacher Day are murky. Around 1944 Arkansas teacher Mattye Whyte Woodridge began corresponding with political and education leaders about the need for a national day to honor teachers and show teacher appreciation. Woodbridge wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt who in 1953 persuaded the 81st Congress to proclaim a National Teacher Day that would serve to the purpose of celebrating teacher appreciation across the nation.

The National Education Association (NEA) along with its Kansas and Indiana state affiliates and the Dodge City (Kan.) local lobbied Congress to create a national day celebrating teachers. Congress declared March 7, 1980, as National Teacher Day for that year only. NEA and its affiliates continued to observe Teacher Day on the first Tuesday in March until 1985, when NEA and the National PTA established Teacher Appreciation Week as the first full week of May. The NEA Representative Assembly then voted to make the Tuesday of that week National Teacher Day.

Teachers are true heroes in our communities, who through their dedication to children, work millions of small miracles every day. And the vast majority of teachers in the United States are proud to be advocates for children, public education, and their profession. Additionally, there are hundreds of teachers and education support professionals actively serving in the U.S. military.

National Teacher Day focuses on the contributions teachers make to help children succeed in school and in life. Public schools are where children learn to be Americans. School is where they learn the Pledge of Allegiance and the U.S. Constitution. It provides students their first opportunity to vote. It is where we all learn that wherever we are from, we are united as Americans. Showing our teacher appreciation shouldn’t be limited to this week and day, but establishing a particular time of the year for teacher appreciation helps us to remember how important teachers are in society.