Teachers Pressured by Appreciation Week Performance
Teachers and school staff are experiencing a growing sense of obligation and stress surrounding Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week. This manifests as pressure to participate in increasingly elaborate and often performative gestures, alongside a shift towards broader staff recognition that dilutes the original intent. The effort required feels disproportionate to the genuine appreciation received.
SOURCES (60)
“Got voted most likely to be a teacher at [insert my high school name here] as my senior superlative. Was probably just a sneaky way of saying I was a know-it-all, but I thought “huh yeah I guess I could do that” and by the…”
“As a parent and teacher it really ticks me off watching a kid show up with a new iPhone, in $200 shoes, a Comfrt hoodie, and he has no school supplies at all. They’re usually the kid who breaks pencils and tosses markers in the trash because the marker bin is too far. Meanwhile other parents are generously donating extra supplies. Or worse, some parent who really is in a tough situation spends that month’s food budget on school supplies.”
“I teach at a middle school, with teaming at each grade. A few times a year we have “spirit week “ with themed days. My team of teachers ( all females) will wear matching outfits on random days yet leave me out. I’ll walk into a meeting and be the only one not wearing, for example, a black top and beige pants. I don’t comment on their appearances and participate as needed. One member of my team hadn’t been a part of this “matching” day until near the end of the year. She had made fun of this unti”
“The ones I’ve seen along the lines are suggesting the school would have more money for supplies if they were “paying teachers to do nothing for three months.” Which just shows they don’t understand how we are actually paid.”
“Principal day is coming up in Australia and I’d like some ideas of what to organise as a gift/fun day. Each team is required to organise something, and I am in the admin team. Other teams are organising morning tea, scavenger hunts, gift baskets… Some creative ideas would be helpful! Last year we made Oscar awards. As a teacher, what would you love to receive as a gift? submitted by /u/missxsassyc [link] [comments]”
“Your enjoyment of the nomination needn’t be dependent on your coworkers reaction to it. I had 2 Daisy nominations/pins just shoved in my mailbox at work. It’s a customer service award, don’t read too much into it.”
“Preschool teacher here! I worked until right up to the day I had my baby with both of my pregnancies.”
“it’s custom at every school i’ve been at (granted that’s like 3 schools lmao) but teacher culture is throw away broken or damaged things but leave perfectly good things in your classroom so the next teacher can decide if they want them. i will say, at the schools i’ve been at, custodians throw away things in the hallway so you’re not trashing things yourself”
“Rearrange the furniture in your classroom? Do something to separate last year from this year, physically.”
“I just keep a bathrobe in the school closet and throw it over my clothes when i get in”
“Every time I get one of these, I print it and add it to cards and things I’ve gotten from students over the years. A lot of people say “it has to feel nice knowing you impacted so many lives,” but we often don’t know what those lives look like once they leave our walls!”
“Absolutely. I’m actually pretty excited for this school year. It’s my first year not teaching ELA in 10 years, and I’d be lying if I said my cortisol levels didn’t drop immensely when I found out. Good for you. I’ve been “that teacher” for the last 4 years that makes them use the textbook. Pick up your pencil. Annotate. Close read. Pick out parts that basically write your paper for you. Read it again out loud. Mark stuff out. Question yourself. Find a system that works for YOU. My system works f”
“Also headed back to middle school (after being off since March, just had my second baby!) I have so many so I’m sharing a couple! On the last day of school, one of my most difficult students gave me a letter and said “please don’t cry when you read this” and I got 2 sentences in and started crying. He thanked me for always being kind and being the only reason he kept coming to school. I worked my butt off to support that kid, and often asked myself if I was even making a difference. It was SO ki”
“How do you feel about the school asking you to make videos for their social media? Like be part of their TikTok’s and stuff. I personally don’t feel comfortable, I don’t like people I don’t know to see me or to know where I work. I know it’s supposed to be for the school community but their social media is public. Any advice? submitted by /u/False-Neck-8902 [link] [comments]”
“Teachers go back in 3 weeks. I am still on medical leave until October 19th (that’s the plan anyway)”
“This is one of those instances (that I can safely say as a 25 year veteran), they can "want" all day long. Provide me with something the kids can pretend to do, and maybe I'll cooperate.”
“Classroom decor doesn't have to be anything fancy. I'm probably the only one in my middle school that decorates a little more intensely, because I choose to. I'm also the kind of person that decks my house out in decor for every season, so it checks out. Classroom management-wise, I still use a doorbell from my elementary days as an attention getter for 6-8. It still works. 8th feels like they're too old for it, but they know the sound means I have something to say, same as anyth”
“Hello everyone so I’m a first year teacher at a title I school and I am putting up bulletin boards and posters and such (yes I know about the anchor charts. Trust me there’s room. I am very intentional about that) but my school doesn’t have a color printer. I wasn’t sure how I was going to print the stuff I need for bulletin boards without buying a bunch of stuff from Amazon or getting a colored printer and Office Depot was going to charge me $130 to print what I wanted SO I went to the library.”
“Basically until labor. Taught until Friday, my staff threw me a surprise baby shower during end of day dismissal, and then I went into labor at 3am Monday morning. Baby boy was here 5pm that day :) It’s miserable for sure. Also fyi for maternity leave any days off of school that everyone else gets cannot count towards your days. Mine over lapped with spring break and I had to bring that up to the person who did my paperwork. She had no idea.”
“As a teacher, I'd work those two first weeks just to get to know the kids as much as I could before leaving, especially if I planned to come back within 2 months or so. If you're a high school teacher on block schedule getting new kids every semester (like I am)... eff them kids and don't start the school year 😆”
“Oh man how do I send good vibes to the veteran staff members? I’d love to have some teacher friends in the building I know how stressful teaching is it’s nice to have friendly faces”
“That’s when I put previous years’ questions up as warm-ups, based on what we are covering at the time.”
“Likewise for getting help setting up. My friends' teenagers would beg me to let them help set up my classroom. It's amazing what a few 13 year old girls can do over the course of a few hours. Make a Starbucks run on the way there and they're happy as can be.”
“My school is so poor that this year I put staples and paper clips and split pins and hot glue gun sticks on the BTS bc I’m tired of using my own.”
“Not a teacher, but my thought as a parent is that it would be so nice to have the option to send cash to the classroom or school, and have the teacher pick the supplies that work best for them. It would cut down on back to school work for me, and everyone would get the same supplies, so there would hypothetically be no squabbles about difference in quality (rose art vs crayons vs whatever). Plus, maybe it would be cheaper to buy in bulk and from a school supply retailer?”
“Same with my second graders adult sized scissors for her giant hands. Only complaint I make to the teacher all year is if they try to pool the scissors and give her baby scissors that don’t fit on her fingers. (We actually got referred to an OT evaluation in kindergarten for her awful cutting- turns out it was just the scissors )”
“Hi there! I've been thinking about this lately. I'm a teacher (a new mom) and when I go back to work, I'm considering making my lunch break (and maybe even one of my recesses when possible) my dedicated "me time." Instead of spending every lunch in the staff room laughing and socializing. I'd love to sit (in my classroom) somewhere quiet with my headphones, watch part of a comfort show, and decorate in my happy planner. Planning has become a creative hobby for me—deco”
“We had one a few years ago and it was the biggest waste of time. I wanted to be prepping my classroom bc school started the next day”
I have to be back on August 3rd for prep and PD. Students return the 6th.
“My principal has been doing annual themes since she came to the school 3? years ago. They're always super cringe and nobody understands why she's doing it. There's always a ton of money wasted on stupid shit like books our contract prohibits her from making us read, while telling us we can't afford useful things.”
“I can't speak to other districts, but our "spirit shirts" are usually bargain basement Gildan Beefy Tees that are so thick and stiff they can stand on their own.”
“Talk to your administration about providing snacks. This is above a teachers pay level to say.”
“I cant afford to bring snacks. So we have snack time, and kids can share and extra sealed and brand new snack if they have one. I give them a dojo point if they share their snack. I only give out a snack if they have asked other kids first.”
“I don’t wear makeup to work. I feel like, if I start, I have to keep doing it (so people won’t ask if I’m sick or tired) and I don’t want to make that commitment. Sometimes my students are surprised I’m not wearing makeup and that makes me smile.”
“this helps a lot, hopefully with more experience I'll be able to respond calmly. 😭”
“Most of the stuff like markers, pencils, etc. are provided by our office managers in my district. They should have a supply closet with the basics and other stuff we order from office depot or Amazon.”
“I do three types of prizes. First prize is a small resin animal in a capsule ball. So students cant choose what resin animal. It is hidden in the ball and at random. They just pull a ball from a jumble of them in a box, then open it. I keep the balls to reuse. These animlas are by far the most popular of my prizes. Kids go nuts over them. I've been buying them over the years, have literally dozens of different types, and have learned which are most popular. I also always include 1 little add”
“I teach high school and hand out raffle tickets all day long and every Friday I pull a few names. They have a candy bin, and then one of those wall calculator holders full of random shit I find in my house I don’t want, haha. Keychains, stickers, little plushies, claw clips, random blind bags. It don’t matter. The more whimsical the better. I could put a fork in there and they’d go crazy over it. 😂”
“I don’t. I wave goodbye at graduation, take some pics if kids ask and leave. The seniors are off to (hopefully) do great things. High school will be a distant memory for them.”
“Totally get that, mine too. Buuuuut...even if I were too basically accomplish that, sometimes I just get a better idea last minute.”