Even though National Teacher Appreciation Week comes around only once a year, we all know full well that teachers should be appreciated every day! So, while the PTO is busy planning that brunch and the principals are scrambling to put in the flower order, the teacher team at Teach Starter thought we’d remind you of just why you R-O-C-K!
Read on to see when Teacher Appreciation Week will take place this year, a bit of history surrounding the celebration and ideas of ways you can thank your fellow teacher colleagues.
When Is Teacher Appreciation Week?
While every week should be Teacher Appreciation Week, it’s officially celebrated the first full week of May. In 2024, Teacher Appreciation Week will be celebrated from Monday, May 6 – Friday, May 10.
How Did Teacher Appreciation Week Get Started?
One of Eleanor Roosevelt’s many accomplishments in her extraordinary life was convincing Congress to set aside a day to recognize educators, National Teacher Day, in 1953. It wasn’t until March 7, 1980 that National Teacher Day became a national day.
In 1984, the National Parent Teacher Association designated the first full week of May as Teacher Appreciation Week which is when we continue to officially celebrate educators today!
20 Reasons Why Teachers Are Incredible
Here are 20 reasons why the hard work and dedication of educators should be recognized during Teacher Appreciation Week, and every other day too!
Teachers Are Silent Heros
You work silently during and after school hours often without recognition. Sundays are spent planning and preparing for the school week ahead and the school holidays are often not really holidays. There is so much that you do that goes unnoticed. So much hard work goes behind the scenes. Thank you, teachers, for being incredible.
Teachers Still Plan and Prepare When They Are Sick
Every teacher knows that it’s more exhausting to plan for a substitute teacher than it is to drag your sick self to work and try to make it through the day. Going to work is often easier than trying to articulate your daily plans to a substitute teacher.
Then there’s the teacher’s guilt. How will your students cope without you? Will the lesson be taught as well as you would do it? Will your less confident students get the support that they need? Who will coordinate your after-school sports session?
For those days when taking a sick day is the only option, ease the stress and use our Substitute Folder Templates:
Teachers Give the Most Important Gift of All
Not only do you give your students the gift of learning, you also give them the gift of thinking for themselves. Never underestimate the positive impact you are making on the lives of individuals. You are truly incredible!
Teachers Make a Record Number of Decisions
Teachers make a huge number of decisions each day, much like a manager but without the manager paycheck. Teacher decisions are both big and small, but every one of them is as important to your students as the last. Teachers make seemingly endless decisions each day, from grading to deciding whether to use messy paint or easy crayons.
Teachers Touch Every Aspect of Society
Teachers have a far-reaching influence on society. It is often said that other than parents or guardians, no other person can have a more profound influence on an individual than a teacher. Your students are deeply affected by your influence, your character, compassion, competence, values and commitment.
Teachers Are Multi-Tasking Speed Eaters
Is there any other profession in which it is the norm to eat your lunch in four minutes while supervising a large crowd of small humans, in a high-risk open space? How is that indigestion going?
Teachers Have Bladders of Steel
Teachers, there’s no time to go to the bathroom. Oh, and we forgot to mention that you’ll be lucky if there’s time to go during your so-called break. Part of your job as a teacher is to monitor your water intake so that you don’t need to go to the bathroom during lesson time.
Teachers Shape Future Generations
Teachers shape the future by touching lives and strengthening communities. You are incredible.
Teachers Are Patience Experts
Teachers have the patience of a saint. That is all.
Teachers Are Student Mentors
Teachers are not just educators, they are also carers and mentors to their students. Not everyone realizes that teachers often help and support their students to beat the odds in challenging times at school and in their home life. Your class is like your extended family and you are incredible.
Teachers Listened to Their Higher Calling
Have you ever heard a teacher say that they can’t imagine doing any other job? Many teachers say that they didn’t choose the job, but rather that the job chose them.
Teachers Make Complicated Stuff Seem Simple
Teachers make solving long division feel like a breeze and constructing adjectival phrases feel like a walk in the park.
Teachers Put the Extraordinary Into the Ordinary
Teachers use kung fu to teach punctuation and games to teach mathematics. You are the magician!
Teachers Work Massive Hours
While most people expect to work a 40-hour full-time week, teachers are often working far more than this. We are talking before school, after school, weekends and vacation. The Teach Starter team knows it and we appreciate you.
Teachers Arm Children with Education
As Nelson Mandela says, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Sums it up, doesn’t it?
Teachers Help Children to Discover Themselves
Teachers provide their students with the opportunity and classroom experience to discover themselves. From strengths and weaknesses to likes to dislikes, teachers help their students to develop emotional intelligence and to find out who they are.
Teachers Never Give Up
Teachers never give up on students. Instead, they think of yet another strategy to make the light bulb switch on. Teachers never give up on themselves or each other. They keep moving forward, however bad the day was. You are incredible.
Teachers Open Hearts and Inspire Minds
Teachers motivate their students and inspire them to be the best that they can be. Teachers encourage and believe in their students. This unwavering faith opens hearts and minds to the world of possibility.
Teachers Are Crafty
Do you ever find yourself looking at a pile of trash and wondering whether you could make something out of that? Teachers often see serious craft potential in paper plates, tubes, and cardboard boxes.
Teachers Do What They Do From the Heart
It’s no secret teaching is a low-paid profession. If you’re not doing it for the money, you are doing it from the heart.
Teacher Appreciation Week Gift Ideas
Share the love! We hope that students, parents and colleagues all make you feel extra special during Teacher Appreciation Week. If you’re also looking to share the appreciation with your fellow teachers, here are some gift ideas to consider.
Thank You Cards
There’s nothing quite like a handwritten note or a message written from the heart. Knowing that you’ve taken the time to put together a note that can be reread is sometimes the best gift of all to a teacher or friend.
To make things easier for you, we have some printable Teacher Colleagues Thank You Cards you can put together right at school. Choose from one of eight different messages, write a personalized note on the back, and pop them on your student teacher or assistant teacher’s desk as a lovely surprise.
Gift Cards
There’s always more room and a need for new teaching supplies! Gift cards from places Amazon, Target and Staples will never go to waste. You can even check and see if the teacher you’re celebrating has a specific teacher Amazon wishlist and check off some of the items.
Other gift cards outside of school-related items could be to their favorite restaurant, salon or coffee shop!
Self-Heating Mugs
It’s widely joked about that teachers have an excess of coffee mugs, so why not gift your teacher friend a mug that will stand the test of time AND keep their drink hot? Self-heating mugs will do just the trick. The recipient will love being able to take a nice hot sip of coffee or tea even after they’ve been teaching for the last 30 minutes. No more cold drinks that should be enjoyed hot!
In addition to these fancier (but appreciated!) gifts, you can assemble a care package that includes their favorite coffee beans or tea flavors. Complete your package with our printable Teacher Colleague Gift Tags.
Make a shout out to an incredible teacher that you know on Instagram and use the hashtag #teachstarterusa for a share!
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