What Teachers Would Really Appreciate

Once a year, we celebrate teachers with Teacher Appreciation Week. We gather cards and flowers and chocolate and scour Target for the cutest items. It’s fun to shower our teachers with gifts! It’s also important to express our gratitude for what teachers do for our students. However, I think there are a few things teachers would appreciate more than the typical Teacher Appreciation Week.

Kids getting to school (on time).

There are lots of things teachers can control, but the time students arrive to learn is not one of them. Seriously y’all. 

School starts at the same time each day and is in the same place each day. In order to teach your child, students need them to be in class. And they need to be there on time. Most teachers plan important work for the morning or the first part of the class period so being late or absent just once a week has a huge impact on achievement.

If you know you have a time management issue, own it and then work on it. Set an alarm. Get up earlier. Anticipate traffic. Pack the bookbags the night before. Teach kids to pack their own lunches. Ask a friend or family member for help.

Do whatever it takes, but remove the barriers to having your child in class on time. No excuses on this one. Just do it.

Legislation that works.

Gift cards and coffee mugs are nice, but legislation that makes sense and has funding to support it would be better. Policy is only as good as the people who craft it. And the people who craft it are only as good as the decisions they make. In order to have relevant information, we need building level educators woven into the legislation process. This includes teachers.

If you are a legislator and need more information on a topic, do your homework. Don’t ask colleagues – ask the people who actually have to implement the policy. Better yet, take time to shadow a teacher for one day each year at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. That’s 3 days of your life that will impact millions of people in a better way. 

If you are not a legislator, please talk to your politicians and let them know how they can support education policy that works for your child. It would also be helpful for you to spend one day each year with a teacher at the elementary, middle, and high school levels so you can see the real issues, not the ones we assume we have.

Because we were all students at one point, we tend to think we know what schools are dealing with. The truth is that we have no idea unless we go in and see for ourselves. And once you get in there and see, you will be better equipped to either create or vote on legislation that will work for real life kids and teachers. 

I can think of no better gift than legislation that not only supports, but also honors our teachers. 

Time.

We can’t change the amount of time in a day. We can, however, change the way we use it. Currently, the job of teaching is larger than any 24-hour span. Over the last few decades, we have added measures of accountability, social work, extensive record keeping, and additional meetings to the regular teacher day. Teachers are never “done” – they literally just stop working. So, in addition to that thank you card, think about how you can give teachers more time in their days.

If you are a parent, consider the following ideas:

• Can you volunteer to cover lunch duty or recess? 
• Can you organize and manage communications for them? 
• Can you collect supplies/donations so they don’t have to run errands for an event or special project? 

It’s wonderful to thank our teachers for the hard work they do each day. They totally deserve it. But wouldn’t it be even better if we could thank them consistently — beyond Teacher Appreciation Week — with gifts that truly matter?