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I've been on both sides of the teacher appreciation juggernaut. I remember when my daughter was in preschool and I was hustling harder than ever (working full time as a high school teacher, commuting long distances, parenting a toddler, etc.) receiving an email from the room parent about all the different themed gifts I was supposed to be conceptualizing, planning and buying for my daughter's teacher. I was totally overwhelmed and angered by the situation. It was ONE MORE THING I had to do, or I'd let everyone down (or so I'd convinced myself). This was on top of having to put in work hours at the preschool cleaning the bathrooms one weekend a month, when my own bathroom at home was filthy. I remembered having been a preschool teacher (my first job out of college) and how goddamn tired and broke I was. I decided to "shirk my responsibilities" as a parent in the classroom, and decided to put cash in an envelope for each of my daughter's caregivers. This has been my move ever since. Now I give gift cards to grocery stores, art supply stores or Target.
As you point out, this in no way solves the problem of real appreciation in the form of meaningful reform, pay that honors, resources, societal respect, etc.
I can say that as a teacher the gimmicky gifts sometimes have the opposite effect of appreciation. They highlight how broken the entire system is. One year the PTA at my school put boxes of bananas in the lunch room with the note "Thanks a bunch!" on the box. The bananas sat untouched and rotted over the course of the next few weeks until I threw them out. It was honestly the most egregious, ridiculous and demeaning "appreciation" I've ever received. The smell lingered.
This year simple notes (an email would be great!) from parents or students would be enough to keep me going. I keep a file of these letters and notes in my desk and look at them when I feel like quitting the profession. They perennially remind me why, after 20 years, I continue to do the work. This year gratitude has been non-existent. I've heard a lot about how schools have failed kids, how teachers are to blame...but I've barely heard one word of thanks. It's a tiny gesture, but it's a start...
This column is right on the money. It's exactly the same as all those ridiculous "thank you frontline/essential workers!" signs that I see in my wealthy neighborhood—signs which do absolutely nothing, especially when I know the people around me oppose raising taxes to better everyone around them, think essential workers are "unskilled" and therefore don't deserve a living wage, and have traveled or disregarded public health mandates in the middle of a pandemic. (Also! No job is unskilled! That's a lie we're told and many of us perpetuate to justify dehumanization of people in minimum wage jobs!) I wish all that energy for candles and useless junk actually went into asking teachers what they want, showing up at school council meetings to back up teachers (and their union, if they have one), and demanding accountability from lawmakers who seem to also hate teachers. Get them to increase the pay for teachers—parents have so much clout because no one wants to make them mad, and parents should take advantage of that. Heck, *community members* should do it too; when teachers are actually materially supported and valued, we all benefit.
This whole column sizzles. Well said! Some of the parents I know most engaged with these gestures (and putting pressure on other parents to participate—e.g., if every 2nd-grader in your kid’s class is bringining a flower for the teacher on Wednesday and your kid doesn’t, you and your kid will know you’ve failed) are the ones most resistant to pushing for meaningful change in the forms of legislation and taxes.
Thank you for posting. Back in the day I was a major parent volunteer, PTO member, room parent.... I served on the teacher appreciation committee yearly, and chaired it one year
Sometimes I wish I put all that time and effort into advocating for teacher pay raises, and for increased educational funding so teachers weren’t paying for classroom supplies out of pocket
First, "ass of a year" is a phenomenal and perfect descriptor.
Second, I want to offer an additional mindset to the "here's some meaningful things" portion (all of which I full-throatedly agree with) - when it comes to education - and the myriad of educational eco-systems - there is no such thing as other people's kids. The failures of your district in one area of town affect the entire city, region, and state.
Like so many Substack blogs this was excellent writing but way too long for me to read every word. So if I repeat a post or what is in the ocean of words I apologize in advance.
The best gift for a teacher is to write a letter of praise and send it to them, the principal(s), department chair and the superintendent/head master, director, what ever. This will go in their "permanent record" and help with their evaluations and wages. Plus it will make the teacher feel good. Even better if you use really pertinent examples. My wife has held every position from 1 st year teacher to being the head of 3-5 award winning schools. This is really her advice.
She is a smart, talented, conscientious educator. Ignore her at your peril,
Oh man, this column brought back memories of the time when my mom's best friend was teaching elementary school. This was before Teacher Appreciation Week was a thing, but I remember when we would visit her around Christmas, she would bring out a box filled with mugs, candy, body lotion, apple-themed ornaments, etc. and ask us if we wanted anything. I think she would have been horrified if she'd had to contend with an entire week of receiving socks and fancy soaps.
Want to echo some of the people on Twitter saying that often it is the teacher being forced to perform in some way-- like, "So, for Teacher Appreciation Week, we thought it would be fun if ALL the teachers learned a DANCE and at the assembly they..."
This is MY week? And I have to DO something? For MY WEEK?!?!
I'm a teacher at an affluent prep school, and the twist for us is that parents are strongly encouraged to simply give money to the annual fund in a teacher's name. This is, on one hand, nice, as I don't have to deal with the stacks of candles and chocolates. On the other hand, however, I wouldn't turn down some Target gift cards.
Massively agreed. I'm still boggled by the idea that many people who believe that we should have the nice things about civilized society (health care for all, well funded educational system) recoil in horror at the idea of a tax system that can pay for them (say 50% marginal rate at 80K). 34K US$ puts you in the global 1% - Surely a 50% tax rate at twice that figure to deliver the services we desperately need is not unthinkable. Most of the industrialized world already has taxes at that level.
My mother retired from teaching elementary school about 5 years ago. She and my father are slowly preparing to eventually move into a different home because the split-level house I grew up in is not good for a couple who has about one good knee between them. Every trip home now means I come home with a box of stuff from the "crap room" (her words, not mine, and she doesn't use words like that often) that she can't bring herself to throw away but doesn't really want to pack up eventually; I'll leave it up as an exercise to the readers of this newsletter where a lot of this came from.
I've been on both sides of the teacher appreciation juggernaut. I remember when my daughter was in preschool and I was hustling harder than ever (working full time as a high school teacher, commuting long distances, parenting a toddler, etc.) receiving an email from the room parent about all the different themed gifts I was supposed to be conceptualizing, planning and buying for my daughter's teacher. I was totally overwhelmed and angered by the situation. It was ONE MORE THING I had to do, or I'd let everyone down (or so I'd convinced myself). This was on top of having to put in work hours at the preschool cleaning the bathrooms one weekend a month, when my own bathroom at home was filthy. I remembered having been a preschool teacher (my first job out of college) and how goddamn tired and broke I was. I decided to "shirk my responsibilities" as a parent in the classroom, and decided to put cash in an envelope for each of my daughter's caregivers. This has been my move ever since. Now I give gift cards to grocery stores, art supply stores or Target.
As you point out, this in no way solves the problem of real appreciation in the form of meaningful reform, pay that honors, resources, societal respect, etc.
I can say that as a teacher the gimmicky gifts sometimes have the opposite effect of appreciation. They highlight how broken the entire system is. One year the PTA at my school put boxes of bananas in the lunch room with the note "Thanks a bunch!" on the box. The bananas sat untouched and rotted over the course of the next few weeks until I threw them out. It was honestly the most egregious, ridiculous and demeaning "appreciation" I've ever received. The smell lingered.
This year simple notes (an email would be great!) from parents or students would be enough to keep me going. I keep a file of these letters and notes in my desk and look at them when I feel like quitting the profession. They perennially remind me why, after 20 years, I continue to do the work. This year gratitude has been non-existent. I've heard a lot about how schools have failed kids, how teachers are to blame...but I've barely heard one word of thanks. It's a tiny gesture, but it's a start...
This column is right on the money. It's exactly the same as all those ridiculous "thank you frontline/essential workers!" signs that I see in my wealthy neighborhood—signs which do absolutely nothing, especially when I know the people around me oppose raising taxes to better everyone around them, think essential workers are "unskilled" and therefore don't deserve a living wage, and have traveled or disregarded public health mandates in the middle of a pandemic. (Also! No job is unskilled! That's a lie we're told and many of us perpetuate to justify dehumanization of people in minimum wage jobs!) I wish all that energy for candles and useless junk actually went into asking teachers what they want, showing up at school council meetings to back up teachers (and their union, if they have one), and demanding accountability from lawmakers who seem to also hate teachers. Get them to increase the pay for teachers—parents have so much clout because no one wants to make them mad, and parents should take advantage of that. Heck, *community members* should do it too; when teachers are actually materially supported and valued, we all benefit.
To figure out who is least valued in an organization, look for who they have an appreciation day or week for!
This whole column sizzles. Well said! Some of the parents I know most engaged with these gestures (and putting pressure on other parents to participate—e.g., if every 2nd-grader in your kid’s class is bringining a flower for the teacher on Wednesday and your kid doesn’t, you and your kid will know you’ve failed) are the ones most resistant to pushing for meaningful change in the forms of legislation and taxes.
Thank you for posting. Back in the day I was a major parent volunteer, PTO member, room parent.... I served on the teacher appreciation committee yearly, and chaired it one year
Sometimes I wish I put all that time and effort into advocating for teacher pay raises, and for increased educational funding so teachers weren’t paying for classroom supplies out of pocket
First, "ass of a year" is a phenomenal and perfect descriptor.
Second, I want to offer an additional mindset to the "here's some meaningful things" portion (all of which I full-throatedly agree with) - when it comes to education - and the myriad of educational eco-systems - there is no such thing as other people's kids. The failures of your district in one area of town affect the entire city, region, and state.
Like so many Substack blogs this was excellent writing but way too long for me to read every word. So if I repeat a post or what is in the ocean of words I apologize in advance.
The best gift for a teacher is to write a letter of praise and send it to them, the principal(s), department chair and the superintendent/head master, director, what ever. This will go in their "permanent record" and help with their evaluations and wages. Plus it will make the teacher feel good. Even better if you use really pertinent examples. My wife has held every position from 1 st year teacher to being the head of 3-5 award winning schools. This is really her advice.
She is a smart, talented, conscientious educator. Ignore her at your peril,
Oh man, this column brought back memories of the time when my mom's best friend was teaching elementary school. This was before Teacher Appreciation Week was a thing, but I remember when we would visit her around Christmas, she would bring out a box filled with mugs, candy, body lotion, apple-themed ornaments, etc. and ask us if we wanted anything. I think she would have been horrified if she'd had to contend with an entire week of receiving socks and fancy soaps.
Want to echo some of the people on Twitter saying that often it is the teacher being forced to perform in some way-- like, "So, for Teacher Appreciation Week, we thought it would be fun if ALL the teachers learned a DANCE and at the assembly they..."
This is MY week? And I have to DO something? For MY WEEK?!?!
I'm a teacher at an affluent prep school, and the twist for us is that parents are strongly encouraged to simply give money to the annual fund in a teacher's name. This is, on one hand, nice, as I don't have to deal with the stacks of candles and chocolates. On the other hand, however, I wouldn't turn down some Target gift cards.
> Taxes are our way of paying for civilization.
Massively agreed. I'm still boggled by the idea that many people who believe that we should have the nice things about civilized society (health care for all, well funded educational system) recoil in horror at the idea of a tax system that can pay for them (say 50% marginal rate at 80K). 34K US$ puts you in the global 1% - Surely a 50% tax rate at twice that figure to deliver the services we desperately need is not unthinkable. Most of the industrialized world already has taxes at that level.
My mother retired from teaching elementary school about 5 years ago. She and my father are slowly preparing to eventually move into a different home because the split-level house I grew up in is not good for a couple who has about one good knee between them. Every trip home now means I come home with a box of stuff from the "crap room" (her words, not mine, and she doesn't use words like that often) that she can't bring herself to throw away but doesn't really want to pack up eventually; I'll leave it up as an exercise to the readers of this newsletter where a lot of this came from.