Teacher Appreciation

May 6, 2008 is National Teacher Day.  I’ve been talking a lot about how the presidential candidates want to hold teachers accountable and what they want to do to improve education.  I thought I’d take a little break to talk about teacher appreciation.  As a teacher it often felt as though no matter how much I gave it was never enough.  Administrators always want you to stay later and serve on more committees, parents want you to tell them their child is doing better than he or she is and children want to learn more with less work.  That is why I know what it is like to be a teacher in need of appreciation. 

My first year teaching was especially rough, as it is for most new teachers.  That is why when the first week of May rolled around and there were pastries and surprises each day of the week I was overjoyed.  You wouldn’t think something as little as a donut and a coffee mug could make you feel so great but it can!  It wasn’t just me either.  All of the teachers in the school seemed happier.  A little praise every now and again can make all of the hard work that comes with teaching feel like it isn’t so hard after all. 

I often hear from non teachers how teaching is such an easy profession and gee I have summers ‘off’ so why would I complain about how hard my job is.  I guess you’d have to be a teacher to understand.  This post is primarily for all the other teachers out there.  You know how hard your job is and even if no one else tells you for the rest of the year how great you are, you can (hopefully) fondly recall this one week. 

Here is some information on National Teacher Day from the NEA to get the ball rolling.  Wikipedia has information on Teacher’s Day from around the world.  This is a site for ideas on how to celebrate a teacher (in case any of you reading aren’t teachers but instead someone who loves a teacher)

How does your school celebrate National Teacher Day?  Does having a special day where people recognize your efforts it lift you up for the entire year?  If you are a student or a parent how do you let your teacher(s) know how important and appreciated they are?

The School Hallway Photo Credit:  Kevindooley from Flickr, Creative Commons License