Teachers will receive a countless number of Starbucks gift cards and apple-themed mementoes this May in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week. But in addition to any tokens of our reverence, teachers deserve a more consequential sign of our respect: listening — to what drove them to answer the call to teach, lessons they’ve learned in the classroom, and their vision for the profession at a time of great difficulty. 

As U.S. schools struggle to fill faculty vacancies and teachers call for additional support to improve the profession, we turned to experts in the field — our own alumni and faculty — for their words of wisdom on teaching today and tomorrow.