Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Like many educators, I started my career in the classroom: first, teaching 3rd and 5th grade in the Washington Heights community of New York City, then teaching 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade in rural North Carolina, then teaching 6th grade in Gary, Indiana—at this point, I had taught at three schools over seven years and had experienced five different principals. My story is not atypical–turnover in the Principal role is high; nationally, one in five schools lose their principal every year and there are vast disparities depending on the socio-economic status of the students. A 2017 study showed that 35% of principals were in their first two years on the job, and only 11% had been in their job for more than 10 years. (I am 100% sure that number has gotten worse since the pandemic, but we can get more into leader turnover on another day….)

When I founded my small charter network, I was Principal for the first two years–and then again during the 2020-2021 school year when I had a sudden resignation. From 2015-2021, I managed Principals as the Executive Director, so I have spent many springs thinking about Teacher Appreciation Week. It’s a lot of pressure! I am not a Pinterest person in any way, and sure enough, every year during the first week of May, elaborate displays and overflowing gift baskets would show up on my feed, making me feel inadequate. You know who else noticed it? My teachers. It felt like no matter what I did, I would never be the Principal whose teacher appreciation work went viral.

Note: A lot of ideas in this post are geared towards Principals and Principal Managers, but if you are the CEO or Executive Director of a mission-driven organization or non-profit, you can borrow any of these for staff appreciation in general–whether it’s a specific week or you know your team could use a boost one day.

It really is fine to not make your appreciation Pinterest-worthy. Know who you are and who you aren’t. But regardless, the intention is there –you want to make your staff feel appreciated. Here’s some of my takeaways after some lessons learned the hard way: 

1. Either celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week during the national week (the first full week of May in the US), or schedule it early at your school. Do not celebrate it after the national week. Even if they know it’s coming, your teachers will feel salty and the whole week can feel like looking through the windows of a party you haven’t been invited to.

2. Think about the week: are there things you want to do every day (like maybe having a different student salute the work of their grade’s teachers over the announcements? Or have special snacks in the workroom)?

3. You can also think about it by the day: for example, on Fridays we always did a whole-cafeteria toast to our teachers with a kind of open mic set-up that always brought out the Kleenex. It’s nice on Mondays to start with something visual when teachers walk in the building so they see it there all week.

4. Your role as Principal is to marshal resources. If you like making elaborate displays or gifts, go for it. But if you don’t, fear not: the most important thing you can do is to organize students and families to thank teachers: maybe you organize a clap-out where people applaud them as they walk through, or ask people to record a short video or make a card. You can likely enlist the paraprofessionals or operations staff to help out with this–it’s nice when it’s a surprise for teachers (or as much of a surprise as it can be when working with small children: I remember working with a 4th grade class doing this and when their teacher returned from a fictional errand, a student goes, “Ooh you’re gonna LOVE my card!” then promptly clasped their hand over their face.

5. That said, it's also important to say something directly appreciating the individual. General statements about how much we appreciate our teachers is important, but a short note from you saying something like, “Ms. Smith, You make our school what it is and your enthusiasm and joy spread the love of learning with our students every day! We are grateful for you! –Principal Jones,” goes a long way. This teacher had enthusiasm and joy as a key attribute, but maybe it’s their high expectations, their relationships with students, the care they show the kids who need a little love–you can think of something! For those cases where it’s really hard to think of something, consider what they are trying to do–”your commitment to the profession” or “your desire to improve the world”-- works too. 

Now, if you are reading this blog the day I am publishing it, Teacher Appreciation Week is this week–and if you are scrambling to figure this out, I’ve been there. It can sneak up on you! A few ideas for the last minute Teacher Appreciation Week activities:

• Go cover a class today, and bring a bunch of construction paper and markers. Have students make cards. This will be hard for you to do with every class, but look at your teachers, your paras and your ops staff and see how many classes you all can cover at the same time. Consider ordering pizza for the team tomorrow, surprising people with it, covering their classes and then using that time to make cards.

• Pull a small group of students from each grade who are positive and asset-oriented. Get some chart paper and markers and have them make posters like ““The Five Best Things about Ms. Smith” or “Memories we will never forget with Mr. Jones” and have them make door posters for each teacher on their grade. One day after school this week, hang them on classroom doors to surprise teachers in the morning.

• Go to the store and get small packets of seeds (these are less than $1). Put a post-it on each with a note about how grateful you are they help students grow, with a personalized note like the example above. (People hate on this idea but it meant the world to me!)

• Send a quick survey home to parents asking what they appreciate about teachers. Create the survey by grade level, then make each grade level a document with all the quotes and laminate it. Make sure that it’s not too heavily tilted in favor of one teacher.

• You can always give people the “gift of time” by canceling a meeting or giving a “duty free” pass they can trade into members of the admin team.

There’s a lot floating around out there, and I think that honestly a lot of it feeds into the narrative that teachers are overworked and underpaid. I certainly have known and been an overworked and underpaid teacher in my day, and at the same time–that really leads me to think of what I personally valued as a teacher. I valued clarity: what was my job, and what wasn’t. What were the expectations for myself and my peers? How could our team be full of professionals who did their job with excellence? I wasn’t in the work for a water bottle with a logo and neither is any amazing teacher I know. So what I really think is helpful to think about in Teacher Appreciation Week is, 

How can we strengthen ourselves as leaders? How can we run clear, effective teams that get the job done? How do we listen empathetically to challenges while also pushing people to do their best? (If you are like “yes, that’s me, I want to learn how to do all these things!”--book a call with me to talk about how I can help!) These things truly make a difference for your people and reflecting on your leadership is a great gift to them to show your appreciation. 

These are the types of things I am usually talking and thinking about, so if you liked this kind of actionable, practical advice, make sure to join my newsletter list so you don’t miss anything that’s coming.