Tuesday, May 6 is Teacher Appreciation Day in the United States. Take a moment to thank the teachers who have inspired you–we hope you have many to appreciate!
Many of us have a favorite teacher. I know I can immediately point to my junior high school Algebera I and Algebra II teacher. He had imagination, humor, endless energy, and devoted his time to all his students, including spending many of his lunch hours and time after school with kids who were having trouble grasping concepts. Learning in his classroom flipped the switch to turn me into a lifelong math geek well before personal computers and the Internet turned everyone towards STEAM. And of course, his power to inspire went beyond helping me remember the quadratic equation. He had that ability to make me think beyond the classroom walls and into the world and my future in it. That is what great teachers do. He retired years ago, but I’m grateful I am in touch with him via social media. Thank you, Mr. Burr!
In honor of all the hardworking, dedicated and creative souls doing that most essential work–I can’t give them all rock-star salaries and fame (which they absolutely deserve), but I can share a few titles, fiction and nonfiction, about great teachers.
Villette by Charlotte Bronte 1853
FIC BRONTE,C
Ms. Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum 2008
FIC BYNUM,S
Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon
FIC CHABON,M
The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them by Freedom Writers 1999
305.235 FRE
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines 1993
FIC GAINES,E
Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman 1964
FIC KAUFMAN,B
Letters to a Young Teacher by Jonathan Kozol 2007
371.1 KOZ
What Teachers Make: In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World by Taylor Mali 2012
[Hoopla Audiobook]
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi 2008
92 NAFISI,A
It Won’t Be Easy: An Exceedingly Honest (and Slightly Unprofessional) Love Letter to Teaching by Tom Rademacher 2018
[Hoopla Audiobook]