By Guest Contributor Kimmie Fink, WeAreTeachers Editor
With school closures and the move to online learning, teachers are working harder than ever…and they deserve to be appreciated as such. But how do you show gratitude to teachers when they’re not physically in the school building? At WeAreTeachers, we’re seeing folks get creative in the way they recognize the incredible contributions of teachers.
We gathered ideas from our Principal Life group of Facebook to come up with ideas for virtual teacher appreciation, from printed yard signs to drive-thru meals.
In our HELPLINE group, we heard about PTAs that organized appreciation parades and principals who delivered mini bundt cakes to teachers’ doorsteps. Individual students and parents sent flowers, digital gift cards, and heartfelt emails.
Our favorite idea comes from one of our HELPLINE members, who shared: “One of the most thoughtful things was our principal recording a general lesson of himself teaching. He sent it to our whole school and said that we could take off one day this week and use his video in place of making anything ourselves. It was very simple, but very thoughtful.”
Our clients came through with some tremendous and thoughtful giveaways for teacher appreciation. WE Teachers knows how much teachers spend out of their own pockets, so they offered up ten $500 Walgreens gift cards. Ward’s Science recognized the challenges of the current situation and put together an online teaching survival kit, complete with a Keurig coffee maker and document camera.
Quarantined parents seem especially appreciative of teachers, now that kids are at home all day. From realizing how grossly underpaid they are to offering them all the Ticonderoga pencils money can buy, we’re seeing a lot of words of support for teachers on social media.
We might not be able to appreciate teachers in the way we have in the past, but with a little imagination, we can show them just how much they’re valued.
Show some love to teachers all year long. Appreciation shouldn’t only last one week. MDR can help you develop a giveaway program hosted on WeAreTeachers, to put your brand in the spotlight. Contact us to get started!
Kimmie Fink is an editor at WeAreTeachers. She has 13 years of classroom teaching experience and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction.
