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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and while we're in the education realm, did you know that today kicks off Teacher Appreciation Week? That's right, and no, it's not something that the union created, this is something that started in 1952 when Eleanor Roosevelt, I am told, convinced Congress to declare National Teacher Day. Then in 1985, the National PTA, Parent Teacher Association declared it a week, so it traces to Eleanor Roosevelt and the PTA.

President Biden put out a proclamation on National Teacher Appreciation Day and National Teacher Appreciation Work that starts as "The proud husband of an educator who continues as first lady to teach writing at a community college. I have seen firsthand the dedication, selfness, and vision of our nation's educators," and it goes on from there. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week teachers and everybody and here's what we're going to do for our last segment today. We're going to open up the phones for your teacher appreciation stories. Tweet @BrianLehrer or give us a call now at 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280 and let's all just take a minute to appreciate teachers because of what a terrible year of challenges it has been with respect to remote learning primarily.

Do you have a teacher who really showed up for your student, whether in-person, whether remote, however, they had to juggle this school year of COVID? 646-435-7280. Parents especially, we are inviting your Teacher Appreciation Week because you may shout out your child's teacher, any of your child's teachers by name for a little Teacher Appreciation Week love here on the phones, 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280. How about principals? Any principals listening right now? Of course, it was hard for you, too, obviously, we get that, but any of your teachers you want to shout out? I guess you're not supposed to have a favorite employee, right?

Teacher Appreciation Week from the point of view or principals, welcome here, or from the point of view of parents, maybe even teachers want to call in. I know you're not going to shout out yourself, so shout out one of your colleagues for Teacher Appreciation Week, let's make it personal. 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280, and we'll take your Teacher Appreciation Week calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, teachers. Sarah in Greenpoint has something to say about that. Hi, Sarah, you're on WNYC.

Sarah: Hi, Lehrer, how are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. Who do you want to thank?

Sarah: My kids both go to PS 132 and I want to shout out to Ms. Della Fortis, she was my son's third-grade teacher because she's been doing a phenomenal job teaching both remote and in-person at the same time. Then my daughter who's in pre-K was for a while remote with Ms. Jensen, who was wonderful, and now she's in person with Mrs. Ward. I'm so happy and I just think that the teachers there have just done a wonderful job taking care of the kids.

Brian Lehrer: Was there anything, as the school year went on, that you saw with respect to remote teaching that made you think, "Gosh, that teacher is a really good remote teacher," something they never had to think about before the last year?

Sarah: Both of them adapted really quickly to Google Classroom and utilized online resources and videos and were able to engage the children. Yes, they both did a really good job adapting.

Brian Lehrer: Sarah, thank you very much. Let's go next to Roxanne in Queens. Hi, Roxanne, Happy Teacher Appreciation Week. Is there a teacher you want to appreciate?

Roxanne: I just want a big shout-out to the teachers at Success Academy South, Jamaica. There are two main teachers, Ms. Coons and Ms. Matia. Oh, they're awesome teachers.

Brian Lehrer: Do you want to say one thing about how?

Roxanne: I have two sons going to Success Academy, and when I have to go to work, those teachers put out their best for them.

Brian Lehrer: Roxanne, thank you very much. Monica in the Bronx, you're on WNYC, Happy Teacher Appreciation Week.

Monica: Hi, thank you. I want to give a shout-out to my amazing wife, Laura Stewart, and her colleagues, Hazel Hunt, Danny Cardia, Jessica Panic, and there's another woman named Maggie that's working with them, they're at Fieldstone Lower in the Bronx. They have been absolutely amazing this year making sure that their students are engaged and feeling supported over this pandemic. They teach in-person and remotely, they alternate and they have worked so well together. They are outstanding.

I'm a college professor and I'm in awe of what they're doing every day. The energy they bring to their students, the way they are available to them, how much work they're putting in behind the scenes just to make sure they have well-thought-out plans for their students. They're amazing. They've worked so hard. They all deserve all the bonuses, all the good things this year.

Brian Lehrer: Monica, thank you very much. All right, now, Nina, who is a teacher calling from Westchester is going to get real about what it means to appreciate a teacher

from a teacher's perspective. Nina, thank you very much for calling in.

Nina: Hi, thank you. Listen, a shout out to all the teachers I work with and the parents in their community who sends us well-wishes and teacher luncheons and homemade cards from the kids, but the truth is, we want to make more money. Getting a half a percentage rise, it doesn't even cover the cost of living, so we would appreciate it monetarily.

Brian Lehrer: I hear you. Which school system do you work in?

Nina: I'd prefer not to say because we don't have a contract right now, but any teacher will tell you the same thing. Administrators got a 13% rise over the last three years and we got 0.5.

Brian Lehrer: Nina, thank you very much, good luck out there. Yes, Teacher Appreciation Week, it's got to be more than thank you for your service, right? Nina making it real. Nola in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Nola.

Nola: Hello.

Brian Lehrer: Hey, there, how old are you, Nola?

Nola: I am nine years old. I just turned nine on March 29th.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, well a belated happy birthday. That is two-named months ago now, but I guess it still feels close to your birthday, that's good.

Nola: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Who's your teacher who you'd like to appreciate.

Nola: My teacher is Mr. Sarah Merci, but we just call her Ms. Sarah.

Brian Lehrer: Why is she good?

Nola: She really understands us well and she always throws a little bit of fun into our lesson. She is really funny sometimes and I love having a teacher who understands us super well and appreciates that.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Nola, good luck.

Nola: Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: I'm sure if Ms. Sarah is listening, she is really, really happy right. Nora in Mount Olive, you're on WNYC. Hi, Nora.

Nora: Hi, Brian. Thank you for taking my call. It's funny, I was just writing a thank you note, email to Mrs. Smith. She's my child's kindergartener teacher. What I was telling him, the person who picked up my call was that she made an impact throughout the pandemic. My child was remote learning and her compassion, her enthusiasm, how she taught them in such a kind and beautiful way. She told me how to teach my kids. This school, the Tinc Road Elementary School, from the principal to all the teachers from the special classes, music, special education, all the classes, physical ed, they were so wonderful with the kids, but Mrs. Smith was, oh my goodness, what a blessing. She was a blessing this year and I will forever be thankful to her.

Brian Lehrer: Nora, thank you so much for your call and we'll continue with this in a minute, Teacher Appreciation Week calls, and finish up with it in the last few minutes of the show today. Parents, I want to hear from you because I think we've started to hear from some of the callers what made or still makes a really great remote learning teacher? Because this is something that the teachers had to turn on a dime to start doing. We're hearing it from the parents and some of the students who are calling in that that was really hard and that that's a source of particular gratitude and appreciation for teachers.

One, two, were able to pivot to remote learning and still maintain that human connection and a productive educational connection with their students. Parents, call up, keep talking about your kids' teachers on this first day of Teacher Appreciation Week as we're doing a Teacher Appreciation Week call-in where we want you to name names, and think about what made them good as remote learning teachers. This hopefully will be one for the archives, one for the history books, and we won't have to deal with it again very much after the school year, but it's certainly something that has marked some great teachers greatness, their ability to adapt, their ability to connect with kids through the barriers, and they are such big barriers in so many cases of the screens.

What made your kid's teacher, a great teacher for remote learning this year? 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280 as we continue after this.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC with our Teacher Appreciation Week call-in. I'll mention one other thing. We know that teachers don't just teach, they also mentor, so did a teacher help mentor your kid through this tough emotional year? Were they able to connect your child with resources in order to help them process their feelings, for example? Did they center mental health in their curriculum in a year when we know there were so many mental health challenges for so many kids and families? Or maybe they just gave your kid a break when they really needed it. That's part of teaching and mentoring to 646-435-7280. Wendy in Maplewood, you're on WNYC. Hi, Wendy.

Wendy: Hi, I'd like to give a shout-out to Stephanie Rivera who teaches AP US history at Columbia High School.

Brian Lehrer: Because.

Wendy: Because throughout the pandemic, she's been one of the teachers that kept all the kids engaged and excited. She went to every single kid's house and went outside and waved and brought them each a gift so that they all felt loved and cared for. If any kid was struggling, she would reach out to that kid and maybe the parents if need be. It's the only

class where I felt like my daughter learned everything and was excited to go to that class online every day.

Brian Lehrer: Wow, so it sounds like it was both educational quality and that broadly defined mentoring as I was just referring to it if she came to the house and waved outside and the other things you said.

Wendy: Yes, it was a pretty amazing combo of academic and emotional support. It wasn't just my kid, every parent who has had Ms. Rivera just loves her and says that their student just learned so much and she also support them.

Brian Lehrer: All right, I hope she gets to hear this. Patty in Manhattan, you are on WNYC. Hi, Patty.

Patty: Hi, how are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. You got a teacher to appreciate?

Patty: Yes, I do, I have a few. My daughter is a 7th grader at MS54 Booker T Washington. Her homeroom teacher humanities is Mr. Chill Ellie, and I can [unintelligible 00:14:27] I hear her laughing. He keeps them engaged and her science teacher, Mr. Dickey, and her maths teacher, Mrs. Moses, they reach out. They call us, they email us, they make special appointments just to communicate, and that's what you were asking like what really is helpful, communication, and just above and beyond support, it's amazing. It makes me, as you can tell, emotional. Also, I have to a really quick say.

Brian Lehrer: Yes.

Patty: I work for a community-based organization counseling in schools, we provide counseling in schools throughout the city and I'm a program manager, so also, I'd love to shout out the schools, the teachers that I see on the frontlines that I know professionally. PS 191 is one of them. The teachers there and my counseling staff there are amazing.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Patty, thank you, and I'm sure you are emoting for so many parents through your verbal expression and the deep well of feeling that led to it, so thank you. I know you speak for so many parents in the way you presented that. Gregory in Merrick, you're on WNYC. Hi, Gregory.

Gregory: Hi, Brian, thank you for taking my call. I just want to acknowledge a teacher that I had in high school, his name was Jack Rice. He was certainly an influence on a lot of people, thousands and thousands of students in his career. He, unfortunately, passed away several years ago due to cancer, but we became good friends with him after high school was over. We stayed friends through the rest of his life and subsequently became very good friends with his widow. Christmas dinner 2019, we have been getting together for Christmas every year since his passing.

We presented her with a proposition to start a scholarship in his name, and here we are a year and a half later, we are an actual 501(c)(3) charity. We gave out our last scholarship last year which my friends and I have self-funded to a student who was looking into a career in teaching or journalism and who had shown to be socially conscious through his activities in high school. This year, we've actually started collecting, and it was overwhelming the response we had from his students all the way back into the early '70s straight through to his students of the '90s.

Brian Lehrer: Gregory, I'm going to leave it there so I can squeeze in one more call. A very nice tribute to a past teacher on Teacher Appreciation Week, thank you very much. Marisol and Fort Lee, you're on WNYC. Hi, Marisol.

Marisol: Hi, Brian, thank you for taking my call. I just want to give a shout-out to both my two children's teachers, Ms. Michelle Mulligan from Fort Lee School 3 and Ms. Katherine and Ms. Nicole from Lindgren School in Closter. I just want to really recognize the fact that they are showing up to work. They are putting their health and their family's health at risk to come in and teach our children and educate our children in ways that I can't do as a mother. I just want to really thank them for that. All the teachers who are coming to work and really doing all that they can in this climate and this environment to really support our children, educate our children. Thank you for giving me this time to honor them.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you for taking it, Marisol. She did that so efficiently. We have time for one more, and we'll make it Megan in Maplewood if you can do it in about 30 seconds. Megan, hi.

Megan: Hi, Brian. Thank you. I'm actually at school pickup right now. I wanted to call and thank my fifth graders' teachers. Today is his first in-person day of fifth grade, and they just did a wonderful job, he struggled mightily. I would say what made them such great teachers, aside from their empathy and understanding, is their organization and communication about what the kids were learning every day, what the expectations were, and what was due. They're at Clinton Elementary School, it's Stephanie Ramboll and Magda Egdawoman.

Brian Lehrer: That is the last word live on scene at school pickup, Megan in Maplewood. Thanks to all of you who called in and appreciated the teachers.

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