For me, this is a very personal matter. I grew up in a family of educators—both of my parents were school teachers, and many others in my family worked in education. I was the outlier in my family for going off to get an MBA. But apples don’t fall far from the tree—I’ve now worked in online education for over 20 years, my oldest son spent several years working in youth services with middle-school kids, while my younger son is a high school math teacher and coach.
Growing up, I saw the hard work and dedication that teaching takes. I have many memories of my parents working late into the night, sitting at the kitchen table grading papers. At that time, as today, teaching was a respected profession but not highly paid. As a result, both of my parents took numerous second and third jobs in addition to their full-time teaching positions; my mother taught evening courses at the local community college, while my father worked construction and manufacturing jobs (as well as playing in a band on weekend, which he would have done even if he didn’t get paid!).
But the rewards were great. I heard many stories about former students of my parents coming back to the school and thanking my parents for the difference they’d made in those students’ lives. These moments always filled my parents with pride and joy.
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
This quote (often attributed to the 19th century poet William Butler Yeats, but which more likely originated with the philosopher Plutarch) is one that has long been a favorite of mine. Our favorite teachers are those who have inspired us, challenged us, and driven us to believe in ourselves.
At Learning.com, we partner with districts, schools, and teachers to help prepare students for success in the digital world. Our blended-learning programs are delivered in classrooms around the nation to help ensure students have access to high-quality programs for learning important digital skills in areas such as computer fundamentals and typing, online safety, computational thinking and coding, and business applications such as word processing, presentations, spreadsheets and more. We strive to ensure that all of our products, lesson plans and support materials are designed to save teachers time.
From all of us at Learning.com: Thank you to all of our teacher partners for the incredible work you do!

Keith Oelrich
CEO
Keith Oelrich joined Learning.com as CEO in 2012. A pioneer in the K-12 online education market since 2000, Keith has served as CEO of several companies which have collectively provided K-12 online education programs to thousands of districts, tens of thousands of schools and millions of students and their families.
Further Reading
Implementing a Successful Digital Literacy Plan
Digital literacy encompasses a range of skills that transform the ways in which students learn, collaborate and digest information. These digital...
Helping Teachers With Compassion Fatigue
People typically become teachers because they love children and have a passion for educating and helping others. The problem is sometimes teachers...
Examples of Digital Literacy in Education
Digital literacy is having the skills to effectively use technology and to do so safely and responsibly. “Digital” refers to technology, ranging...
Arlington ISD Renews Focus on Digital Skills for Future-Ready Students
Situated between Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, Arlington Independent School District serves 56,000 K-12 students, and has offered Learning.com's...
The Importance of Digital Citizenship in Education
In 2019, 95% percent of 3- to 18-year-olds were reported to have home internet access, according to the American Community Survey (ACS). In a...
Join Us in Thanking Teachers This Week
This week is National Teacher Appreciation Week, an important time to recognize the invaluable contributions of teachers in our lives. From early...
Tips for Teachers and Parents to Prepare Students to be Safe Online This Summer
Being a good citizen in the digital world is just as important as being one in the physical world. Digital citizenship means being respectful and...
The Changing Role from Librarian to Digital Media Specialists
What comes to mind when you think of a school librarian? Books? Circle time? Quietly selecting literature to read at a table? That may be what we...
Algorithmic Thinking: A Critical Skill for Today’s Students
For many people, “algorithmic thinking” conjures visions of a Good Will Hunting whiteboard with extensive equations and symbols long forgotten in...