Poster for Teacher Appreciation Week by 12-year-old Caroline Holt, 7th-grade student at the Bush School, Seattle, Washington

© Caroline Holt/Eugenia Chan

It's Teacher Appreciation Week

Twelve-year-old Seattle student Caroline Holt knows that teachers play a pivotal role in her life, and that's why she created this sign for Teacher Appreciation Week and posted it outside her school. Teachers everywhere could use a sign of our appreciation, this week and every week—but perhaps especially now. Despite more than a year of staggering challenges presented by the pandemic, teachers still manage to inspire a lifelong love of learning in their students and provide a foundation for young people's future well-being and happiness.

During Teacher Appreciation Week and National Teacher Day (this year that's tomorrow, May 4), many of us are taking time out to thank local educators who work so hard to ensure every student receives a quality education. Some are posting appreciation for teachers on social media, others are sending teachers gifts or delivering notes of thanks. Caroline, the artist who thanked her teachers with this drawing, has been posting lots of artwork like this in her neighborhood. It's an idea that we'd like to see take flight—teachers could use a reminder that their extraordinary efforts deserve an A+.