An Apple-Free Teacher Appreciation Season
Are you like me, and cheerfully (ahem) check family members and friends off your holiday shopping list… then remember the "incidentals" and "peripherals" very late in December? Like stocking stuffers…great-aunt Susie who's finally coming to dinner this year… and the teacher gifts? OH, the teacher gifts.
I think we can all agree that kids/parents should give whatever they want to a teacher, or shouldn't *have* to give anything if money is tight, or they just don't want to. But it can be a nice gesture -- everyone likes to feel appreciated, right? We've collected a few ideas from around the helpful Internet.
Did you know there's a National PTA? Yikes. Who wants to serve on a committee for that? NOT ME, that's who. But! They have written a handy little article about this very topic.
Reader Kelsey taught elementary school for four years (bless her!) and shared a great list of gifts that will be appreciated and loved (and some that might not). Read carefully -- some good, practical advice here.
Family Fun magazine -- one that we probably all should be reading if we love the High Arts and Crafts -- has a huge collection of ideas, sorted by category. For the Book Lover, For the Desk, etc. There's a funny anecdote about a male teacher who received… well, just go read it. My favorite idea from all of these was a classroom recipe booklet -- each kid contributed a recipe from his/her family, and someone, the willing PTA volunteer no doubt, bound them up neatly. The recipient says she still uses the book -- sounds to me like the perfect gift that really does keep on giving!
A few more helpful links.
8 comments:
That article was kind of....patchy, advice-wise. I disagreed with what they said about how if the child isn't involved in the gift for the teacher, it means the parent is just trying to impress the teacher. I give a gift to the teacher to wish him/her a happy holiday. I think that's okay to do, even if my child isn't involved. I DO try to involve the child, I just disagreed with the word "impress." Why can't I give a teacher a holiday gift, just like I give the mail carrier a holiday gift? NO REASON, that's why!
I also disagreed about giving teachers plants or plant cuttings, AND with what they said about how teachers treasure child-made gifts the way parents do.
AND I feel sick at heart at all the reports I read of teachers having "closets full of" or "truckloads of" or "piles of" certain kinds of gifts. Makes me feel like saying, "OH SO SORRY TO HAVE BURDENED YOU WITH WHAT I THOUGHT YOU'D LIKE." We don't KNOW the teachers when we see them (by their choice) only twice a year, so of course we have to get them something neutral like that. Would they prefer we try to guess their hobbies? Ooo, I'll bet the teacher likes gardening! I'll get her a big plant she has to take care of! Ooo, I'll bet she'll love my child forever, just like me! I'll give her a giant canvas portrait he fingerpainted!
I liked what it said about how to handle being asked to contribute to an expensive or inappropriate class gift. We ran into that last year (plaques engraved with the students' names). I said, trying to sound really regretful, "Oh, dear! We already bought gifts for them! Oh, too bad!"
I'm feeling a little REVVED UP by this article! I've been stressed all year about teacher gifts, and about how so many teachers hate what they're given. "TOO BAD" is beginning to be my point of view on the topic. Perhaps they'd like to REGISTER so they won't be DISAPPOINTED by the things CHILDREN give them, GEEZ!
*pant pant*
Also, by "this article" I meant the Family Fun thing, not this post.
I agree with you, Swistle. These articles and things rev me up a bit too, sometimes, because as much as I understand how it must be bewildering to receive eighteen bath sets every year, I also don't understand complaining about it. Parents and kids are just trying to be nice and give a gift to say, Merry Christmas, thanks for doing what you do. "If you have a truckload of bath sets, donate it to a homeless shelter or domestic abuse shelter where it can be used, if you don't know what else to do with it," I think. I hear where you're coming from, for sure.
BUT I think the article had some nice ideas, too. Especially about buying supplies for the classroom (it seems there's never enough funding for books and supplies that constantly need updating/replacing), or donating to a charity in the teacher's name. I also thought working together to sponsor a class field trip was a really nice idea. I know all the pressure about teacher gifts (and I've seen a lot on the internet the last few years) is frustrating, but hopefully when we post links the information presented can be sorted so that helpful things can be easily gleaned and used as needed.
Yeah. I mean, one good thing that comes out of even the Complaining Teacher posts is a fresh reminder that teachers should not be given gifts that the giver would not want to receive. I've seen evidence that a lot of people DON'T know that. Knowing that people don't know (if you follow me) puts the complaints in perspective. Twenty students bringing twenty gifts for twenty years can add up to a lot of frustration on a teacher's part.
I always think the same as you: why do they clog up their closets with it if they really don't like it? Why not donate it? I suspect some of it is hyperbole meant to prove their point.
Well crud, today is the last day of school and I didn't do anything. Hmm, maybe I can get something by pick up time...
My mother is a middle school art teacher who really doesn't need knicknacks, but items for the classroom are always appreciated. For example, I have given her a classroom set of Alene's craft glue. Throughout the year I set aside colorful magazines made with thick paper, like Wired, O, and National Geographic for classroom use.
Found this on my way around the internet this morning and thought it might be something to promote on your teaching blog.
The Free Resource is here to help the education community by giving teachers and students a website that they can utilized for trusted information. We would like to give back to the teachers specifically and help them raise money for their classroom. Each month we are going to give $300 to 1 lucky teacher to help them buy supplies for their classrooms and students.
http://www.thefreeresource.com/teachers-earn-money-for-supplies-for-your-classroom
Post a Comment