La Salle-Peru High School teacher Alexandra West shares her own life experiences, from her travels to her life experiences as a woman of color, to help students connect and share their own stories to better understand multicultural literature.

Sally Etzenbach, a speech-language pathologist at Northview Elementary, helps autism students with limited verbal communication find their voice.

After retiring after 35 years teaching at La Salle-Peru High School in May 2021, Bill Booker has taken on a part time job teaching PE three days a week at Mendota Holy Cross

As a student, she kept color-coded notes so, yes, Brittany Rynkewicz expects her students to be diligent. But the St. Bede English teacher also wants her kids to unlock their imagination and have fun.

Adrianne Espinoza-Zamora, a Mendota High School Spanish teacher, fulfilled her childhood dream to become a teacher.

For Earlville teacher/coach Shannon Cook, patience has proven to be the key to success.

Eye On Illinois: Thank a teacher who shaped your life, but also make time for the ones shaping other lives right this minute. Thank those who take jobs in districts that don’t pay as well, or pursue specialty areas where shortages are most extreme.

Dennis Anderson: Thank You, Teachers is our way of acknowledging the value these educators have in our lives.

Lynn Quick is an Oglesby native who settled on a teaching career even before she graduated from Holy Family School, thanks mainly to an always-smiling Felician sister who inspired her to teach, if not to take up the habit herself.