By Diane Harris… Back in 1944, political and educational leaders began discussions for a day to honor teachers. In 1953, Eleanor Roosevelt persuaded the 81st Congress to proclaim a National Teacher Day. It has since grown to encompass a week of honoring teachers who have committed to touching the lives of children all over this country.
We are blessed in Rocky Mountain Conference to have incredible teachers who have stepped up to the challenges of teaching in this year of the pandemic. They spent last summer preparing their classrooms to be COVID ready to receive their students for the 2020-2021 school year. Each school had to follow the guidelines of their counties.
They were creative and came up with plastic separations to allow students to study safely together and still see the teacher and feel part of the classroom, and devised ways to social distance, keep masks on or off depending if they were inside or out.
Procedures were developed to put into place for temperature taking, in-person learning, virtual school and a mixture of both. They also made extensive plans to sanitize and keep their rooms and students safe. Most importantly, RMC teachers reached out to each child daily whether in person or Zoom to make sure that they knew they were loved and cared for and connected to their community.
So, now as we come to the end of our school year, and this Teacher Appreciation week, we want to honor the teachers of Rocky Mountain Conference, who without hesitation or complaint, took such diligent care of our kids through this school year. Because of their commitment, preparation and creativity, our students are thriving and continuing to see examples of Jesus every day.
“A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others.” ~Mustafa Kemal Ataturk~
“Teachers have three loves: love of learning, love of learners and the love of bringing the first two together.” ~Unknown~
–Diane Harris is RMC director of education; photo by Vista Ridge Academy Facebook
