Be Prepared to Acknowledge Teachers
I’ve always appreciated my son’s teachers, they were all great and taught him a lot, but this year? Well, we all know this school year was very different. The amount of patience, planning, flexibility, and troubleshooting required to train fourth graders on a hybrid schedule has at times approached superhuman levels.
They do their best to keep all our children academically and socially, while at the same time risking their health or dealing with the consequences of the pandemic on their personal lives. I think in particular of a couple of weeks that my son’s teacher had to be quarantined when her own teenage son fell ill with COVID (and apparently got into the habit of placing overnight orders to deliver donuts from his bedroom).
They deserve our appreciation now more than ever, that’s what I’m saying, and like every other aspect of our pandemic life, we may have to get a little creative in how we show it. Teacher Appreciation Week starts on May 3, so now is the time to start planning your gratitude expression.
If you’re still completely virtual
If your child’s classroom is still fully virtualized, you might be confused as to how to properly express your gratitude besides communicating to them through ClassDojo. But there is something you can do at home to reflect on them with appreciation and make the week special for them. Here are some ideas:
Thank you video
We’ve been tired of video chats and video messaging for months now – remember how we complained about Zoom fatigue after just a few weeks of the school year? But if your child is still completely virtual, we need to work with what we have, and we have video. Make a video of your child (or your entire family!) Thanking the teacher. If they are nervous or confused about what to say, ask them to write a message ahead of time and read the thank you note to the camera.
Picture of your child’s drawing
If your child prefers to express his gratitude through art rather than words, ask him to draw or draw a picture for his teacher, and then send him this picture. This is not the same as being able to hold original works of art in your hands, but it is the grateful thought that matters. (Bonus points if you coordinate with other parents in the class to submit one large batch of illustrations.)
Electronic gift card
My gift to the teacher is usually a handwritten note, some sweet treat, and a gift card to their favorite coffee vendor or retail store. Many restaurants and retailers, including many local businesses right now, will allow you to send e-gift cards to your email address, and if you can afford it, it will be a welcome addition.
Personal note
Small messages from kids are great, but I also think it’s important for parents to acknowledge their gratitude to the teachers – especially now that any personal contact we might have during drop-off, meeting or parenting … teacher conferences are on hold. Just enter it and send it by email or any other messaging app you usually use to communicate with them.
Item from their Wishlist
As I mentioned during the holidays , teachers often have Amazon wishlists full of supplies and other items they crave for their classes. Even if they are not teaching in the classroom right now, chances are there will be materials and subjects that they might find useful now or in the future. If you’re not sure if they have an Amazon Wishlist, you can go here to email them directly from the site to ask if they have one and, if so, share a link. You will be able to send items directly to them.
They may also have a cool Scholastic book wishlist; they can send you a link to this list if you don’t already have it.
If they are in class
If the children are in class for at least part of the school week, it will be much easier to make a physical gift. Handwritten notes, drawings, and gift cards are still a good idea, and your child can hand them over on paper. However, stay away from items such as coffee mugs and candles. If they’ve been teaching for over a year, most teachers will say they’ve got plenty of them already and would prefer something like a handwritten note or postcard or whatever they already want for the class.
But since the past year has taught us all sorts of new ways to celebrate, there is another way to celebrate them personally, in a pandemic style: with courtyard signs that say “Thank you” in the grass around the school. You can ask other parents in your child’s class to participate and receive something like this set of tokens from the teacher on the lawn to greet them in the morning. Just be sure to get the director’s permission before doing this and film it yourself at the end of the week.
This article was originally published in 2020 and has been updated on April 21, 2021 to reflect current information.