In the spirit of Thanksgiving this week, we are celebrating the hard work and dedication educators embody. As the famous Mr. Rogers once said “anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me.” We couldn’t have said it better, Mr. Rogers, so we are spotlighting the top 10 reasons we are thankful for educators in today’s post.

#1: Dedication: Few professions are as dedicated to their work as educators are to their students. Educators make sacrifices daily and are generous with their time, energy and resources.

#2: Hard Work: Early mornings and late nights are a regular part of most educators’ daily routines. Most teachers can be found working on lesson plans or grading assignments, even after their families have gone to bed at night. We are grateful for the hard work and gift of time educators give to future generations.

#3: Selflessness: Whether it’s giving their lunch to a student who forgot theirs or using their own resources to purchase classroom supplies, we’ve all heard countless stories of selflessness from educators. As if that wasn’t enough, here is an incredible story about a teacher who donated her kidney to a student.

#4: Creativity: Educators are some of the most creative minds out there. They bring that creativity into the classroom in many different forms, in simple ways, like beautiful bulletin boards, and in more complex forms, like using creativity to make learning fun and individualized. We love this story of a teacher who uses hip-hop to teach science.

#5: Kindness: The heart of a teacher is truly unmatched. Encouraging notes on assignments and interventions with bullies are just a few examples of the kindness educators display on a daily basis. Grandiose acts of kindness are not uncommon either, like this story of a teacher who bought bikes for her entire school when she learned one student didn’t have one.

#6: Multi-tasking: Educators aren’t just teachers, librarians, and administrators. They take on so many other crucial roles for the benefit of students: nurse, social worker, head cheerleader, janitor, safety facilitator, mediator, separation anxiety counselor, story teller, Ms. Fix It and so many more.

#7: Inspiration: “Every kid needs a champion,” “Teach teachers how to create magic,” and “How to fix a broken school? Lead fearlessly, love hard,” are just a few of the Ted Talk titles on inspirational teachers. Inspiration is everywhere around us and we have educators to thank for that.

#8: Encouragement: We were serious when we called educators “head cheerleaders” back in #6. Educators set high expectations of their students and hold them to it, but not without a heavy dose of encouragement and support. We love this example of how one teacher helped a poverty-stricken student overcome obstacles to eventually become a school superintendent in a neighboring district.

#9: Love of Learning: Educators instill a love of learning in their students because they are lifelong learners themselves. This quality undoubtedly contributes to industry-wide innovation and the continual improvement of the world we live in.

#10: Impactful: Simply put, educators make a profound impact on the lives they touch. Click here to see how teachers impacted Bill Gates, Les Brown, Emily Blunt and Maya Angelou on everything from speaking phobias to embracing their identities.

For even more reasons to be grateful for educators and for some insanely inspirational stories, click here. What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? Let us know over on our Facebook page, and happy Thanksgiving from the EdIncites team!