The Maine Department of Education (DOE), along with the Maine Teacher of the Year (TOY) Program, and Maine State Teacher of the Year Association (MSTOYA), are joining the national #LoveTeaching campaign, a grassroots effort started by teachers in 2015 as an opportunity to celebrate teaching, leading, and learning in a way that unites and invigorates educators and those they inspire all around the world.
Every year, Valentine’s Day marks the beginning of a week-long conversation that aims to illuminate why teachers enter and remain in the field of education, offering a mindset shift from the seemingly singular focus on the challenges of the profession.
Starting on Friday, February 14 and continuing through February 21, 2020 educators across Maine are encouraged to participate by using the #LoveTeaching hashtag on social media to share why they love teaching, either through a story, a moment, a memory, a picture, a quote, or simply explaining why they love teaching in a sentence or phrase. Tag the Maine DOE at @mdoenews on Twitter and at @MaineDepartmentofEducation1 on Facebook so that we can share your teaching inspiration around our state!
As we transition from January into February, we would also like to support MSTOYA in their efforts to keep the momentum of January’s “Invite your Legislator to School” month going, by encouraging teachers who have not done so already, to invite their local legislator to their school.
The goal of “Invite Your Legislator to School Month” is to engage, enlighten, and inform policy makers from our local or state government by providing them with a better understanding of how their decisions affect learners and educators across the state of Maine. It is also a great opportunity to invigorate and inspire them by showing them the wonderful things that are happening in classrooms in Maine.
We know that everyone’s schedules are busy, so please consider scheduling a visit sometime in the near future, or anytime throughout the year that works best for your school and your guest(s). In the words of MSTOYA, “It’s more than a month; it’s a movement.”
Please visit the Maine State Teacher of the Year Association Website to get further guidance and resources that can support you in inviting and scheduling a visit with your local and state legislators.
For further information about the #LoveTeaching campaign, please visit weloveteaching.org and be on the lookout for another announcement from the Maine DOE to kick off the week.