Whether school was a happy experience or not for you, I bet you remember with fondness an educator (or two, or ten?) who made a positive difference in your life. For me, it was my Senior year English teacher, whose unabashed love of grammar and syntax follows me to this day. Thanks to her, I even have a favorite punctuation mark; it’s the semicolon.
Since this is Teacher Appreciation Week, why not share your love and show gratitude for a local educator? Perhaps you’re smitten with your kindergartner’s peppy teacher who seems to have oodles of patience with the wee folk. Or maybe you just appreciate the quiet strength of a local high school teacher– how he or she seems to keep it together with teenagers the way you would never be able to do so. Or it could be a coach, an assistant, or any of the wonderful people who make school a better place for our kids. Visit the DCPS site and leave a note for a teacher; read through the notes other parents and community members have left for their teachers; or click on one of these inspiring Capitol Hill teachers’ profiles and silently thank your lucky stars that there are such caring people in our community.

I hate to be a stickler, but shouldn’t it be a colon in your sentence?
“Thanks to her, I even have a favorite punctuation mark: it’s the semicolon.”
You know, I actually agonized about using a colon versus the semicolon I ended up using. All I can say is, thank you for noticing and commenting!