If you know a teacher or a nurse this week, you might want to give them a hug or show them some love in other ways.
That’s because this week is both National Nurses Week and National Teacher Appreciation Week.
National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6th and ends on May 12, Florence Nightingale's birthday. These permanent dates enhance planning and position National Nurses Week as an established recognition event.
As of 1998, May 8 was designated as National Student Nurses Day, to be celebrated annually. As of 2003, National School Nurse Day is celebrated on the Wednesday within National Nurses Week (May 6-12) each year. International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on May 12 of each year.
Also being celebrated this week are teachers. From May 7-11, 2018, the National Parent Teacher Association has organized National Appreciation Teacher Week, with National Teacher Day being celebrated on May 8. Since 1984, National PTA has designated one week in May as a special time to honor the men and women who lend their passion and skills to educating our children.
PTA events at the national, state and local levels celebrate the outstanding contributions teachers make.
This year, the National Education Association hopes that everyone shows their thanks and gratitude by treating them like a V.I.T. – VERY IMPORTANT TEACHER.
Teachers change the lives of millions of children every day, and their work and impact extends far beyond the boundaries of the classroom. Join us during PTA Teacher Appreciation Week to #ThankATeacher for all that they deliver to our nation’s children.
We can’t think of two more deserving groups of people, and both play very important roles in our lives. Our teachers are the ones who helped prepare us for life by teaching us the knowledge and skills that we’d need to be successful in life. Some of those lessons were in the textbook, but some of the most meaningful lessons were life lessons that may not have been on the daily lesson planner.
Teachers have to continually adapt to new teaching techniques and curriculum that are introduced all the time. They are the ones who have to sift through that bevy of information to realize what works for their students and what doesn’t.
Nurses are many times an overlooked group of people, but they perform vital roles in our health care system. They are the ones who interact with patients on a daily basis, whether they are hospital nurses who constantly check on their patients or they might be hospice nurses who are assisting homebound patients. As doctor’s schedules have become busier, nurses are having to take on an increased role in health care.
We would like to thank both teachers and nurses for their hard work that sometimes either goes unnoticed or is underappreciated. Without both groups, there is no way we could make it.
So please take the time to express your appreciation to them so that they will know just what they mean to us.
— Brent Maze
