Editorial: Schools are closed, but Teacher Appreciation Week remains important

Think back to being 6 or 7, or even a little older. Remember what it was like to be small and, in so many ways, new to the world.

Picture the adults who influenced you most in those early years. Those who supported you. Encouraged you. Believed in you. And taught you the skills you desperately needed for the challenges ahead.

If you were blessed with a happy family life, your parents probably top the list. Maybe your grandparents as well. But right up there, for most of us, are the teachers who introduced us to the broader world and set us on the path of lifelong learning.

Consider this sentiment, seen on T-shirts and bumper stickers: "If you can read this, thank a teacher."

Today, we do just that.

We are in the midst of Teacher Appreciation Week, a time when parents might normally drop off doughnuts for their children's teachers or contribute to a potluck lunch. With schools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, that's not an option. But it is still important to take time to thank those who've taught you - and your kids - to read, to write, to experiment and to explore. In fact, any parent who's juggling work while supervising e-learning at home probably feels more appreciative than ever of the women and men who work so hard on behalf of our kids.

We have written about a number of dedicated teachers over the years and there are far too many to single out here. What's notable now is that being kept out of their classrooms in recent weeks hasn't halted their commitment. Each day, it seems, we share stories of teachers doing their best under the most trying of circumstances.

Grade schoolteachers have scheduled drive-bys so they can wave to isolated students through doorways and windows. Theater teachers have challenged voice and acting students to take the performing arts online. Athletic directors and others have spent hours delivering Class of 2020 lawn signs to high school seniors deprived of the usual graduation traditions.

And they've done so despite the obstacles, giving today's kids positive memories of uncertain and scary times.

When we adults think back to our own teachers, we may remember a wide range of personalities and teaching styles. Some were nurturing, some tough. Some were like the teachers our own kids had, some a product of very different times. Not all were perfect, of course. But the best ignited a spark that kept us learning, exploring, pushing and creating long after we left their classrooms behind.