I had an idea for Teacher Appreciation that I thought I'd let fly in this group first, get some feedback on the pros and cons of it.
It came to me when I was listening to someone in our PTO talk about the luncheon that'll be catered for the teachers. It's a nice thing to do, and I'm sure the teachers look forward to it, but I couldn't help but think that it's a little impersonal from the standpoint of the majority of the parents. The luncheon is catered and served by the people on a committee, and while parents contribute in the sense of paying for it via dues, fundraisers, etc., I have no doubt that most parents are not even aware of when the luncheon is!
So I thought of something to supplement the nice luncheon. Solicit each parent to write down and send in one nice thing about their child's teacher. Go further, and write one nice thing (or solicit something from their child) about others in the school they come in contact with regularly (librarians, music teacher, gym teacher, staff members, etc.) Get these comments, type them up, and present them to the people in a card form: this is what people have to say about you.
The comments would all be anonymous. Obviously anything inappropriate would be withheld. Staff and faculty could comment on each other.
The idea is to have parents stop and think, for a few minutes, about what they really appreciate in their child's teachers, and then communicate it. And I think anyone might be surprised if a group of people we deal with, directly or indirectly, suddenly presented us with a bunch of compliments; surprised at what people see about us that's positive.
It's far too late to do anything like this this year. I think all of the classes in our school have room moms, who could coordinate the communications. A separate group could take care of the sorting, collating, making up cards, etc.
In a way it sounds kind of hokey, but in another way, not so much. It's personal, everyone gets involved, and I think it might really punctuate the importance of appreciating the teachers.
What do you think?
