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)
“Serious question for my fellow educators. I bought a brand new pack of 50 purple pens on Monday morning. It is now Saturday and as I am counting them, I have exactly three left. I teach Grade 6/Year 7. I know they aren't eating them…”
“Hi I’m a new teacher and I’ve posted here before and seem to get good advice. I just read a post about “Game Day” which was a fascinating read. As I read comments, I started to think “holy crap I do fun Friday with the kids and it’s only day 8! 😟” Is it like… okay to do a 20 minutes earned fun Friday break with my 5th grade students? For context, they must earn it by receiving letters throughout the week from compliments from other staff or myself. The letters spell out the name of the school m”
“Most of the comments are very similar… it’s not a good idea. If nothing else, work with her as a colleague only for several years- keep it strictly professional, and see how things go.”
I teach sped math. All my kids are in IEPs. Mild to moderate
“My 5th grade class last year made a bangin playlist. The year before that too. Helps that their parents are around my age right now!”
“Half day in front of students is the reality we need to get to. Some countries give teachers 1/2 day preps. I know 2 teachers at a district nextdoor who work 1st 1/2 day as core content teachers, and the 2nd 1/2 in other specialities that aren't leading a full class.”
“What?!? Teachers in my school participate in Spirit days better than the students. Especially any pajama or casual days. I don’t participate in all of them because it gets to be too much sometimes but I love pajama days lol. I’m in a high school btw.”
“She’s extremely quiet and very shy and today she came up to me and gave me a pen from her favorite brand because I’m her favorite teacher. Melted my heart submitted by /u/Specific_Tonight_877 [link] [comments]”
“Hello all! 3rd year Oklahoma teacher here, and I moved up to 5th from 3rd. I know the profession has its doom and gloom, and I have STRUGGLED with behavior. This year, since I’ve had these kids before, I’ve been challenging myself to send home a positive message or two everyday to work through my roster. It’s been a game changer. I sent one yesterday about a student that I know was suspended multiple times a month last year. He’s been a superstar so far! His mom was so excited to receive a nice”
“No one has to say the pledge. A forced daily loyalty oath is offensive morally. If my wife made me promise every morning to be loyal to her, that'd be an unhealthy relationship and these children are supposed to swear their commitment to a FLAG?”
“I usually stop my instructions for the class while it's going and for the following moment of silence but if I'm not doing anything now than that.”
“I don't say it when the kids are there. I am okay with them seeing my silent form of protest. I don't say a word about it, I simply don't stand or say it.”
“Hi everyone. Not sure if this is the right flair, but I'm going with it. Last year, I was one of multiple teachers co-heading the yearbook. This year, it is entirely on me for fundraising, advertising, selling, designing, and overall putting the book together. I will have some students once I get the dates together for a club, but most of them won't be able to help until Spring because of Fall sports. Anyway, our school is very new and this is our first year with a senior class. They'”
“Believe it or not, I teach 10-12th. Walking kids through the process of reading and loving literature, it’s fun to me. I know, I’m sick.”
“What's different this year? I had this five years ago, also after many years of teaching. It was an extremely challenging group of kids.”
“Parent here. I follow this sub both to understand the world where my kids spend/will spend their time, and also because as a nurse I find we share a lot of similar experiences and struggles. I’ve got a 5 and 11 year old. The older one did online kindergarten due to Covid. The younger starts kinder tomorrow. I see a lot of posts here from teachers who are shocked and appalled at what kinders don’t know or can’t do. Some are pretty blatantly atrocious, like how to color or hold a book or use the b”
“In third grade, I give a “class coupon” for every HW turned in: change your seat for the day, pick the brain break, use teachers chair, dj at recess, positive note home, use teacher pens, and other free stuff.”
“I agree. It’s a difficult and vulnerable time for them. We help in so many different ways. We reach them.”
“I have a few teachers in mind but I can't seem to choose (2 STEM, 2 humanities/eng). They all like me, but I'm scared that these teachers will just write a generic letter. How are you guys going about asking teachers and making sure that you choose one who can speak to your character instead of saying smth completely overused? submitted by /u/jelloxcloud7251 [link] [comments]”
“True but why do you say no sometimes you can say other stuff with the same meaning”
“I am an early childhood special education teacher. Our school is requiring an insane amount of professional development this year. We were told both at convocation and by our principal that budgets have been slashed and not to ask for anything. Try to find things used on our own or ask our peers before we put in an order for anything. This coming week, we are being mandated to go to a toy store near our school called Constructive Playthings. Those of you in the early childhood/young elementary w”
“My school allows us to wear tee shirts on Fridays as long as they relate to our subject, like a math pun. I found a cute shirt on Instagram that says “Be like subtraction and make a difference,” but I don’t trust the site. Does anybody have a recommendations for trustworthy sites for cute tees like these? TIA! submitted by /u/shoonpo [link] [comments]”
“Our district no longer provides sped teachers with this really good annual back to school luncheon (with tons of dietary accommodations) that went with our PD day. It’s sad that we now have to rush from trainings with no lunch even allotted. I’m grateful for any free food these days!”
“I great gift bags. Usually with multi colored pens/pencils, a small fidget, candy canes. Things I can buy in bulk and divide up.”
“Agree. I’m almost 50, teach in NJ. My district had many families lose loved ones. I really wish we’d stop doing a big thing about it. They always say “ask your teachers how they remember the day.” I was teaching and it was terrible. The kids don’t have any attachment to it anymore. I was so happy when the last kid who lost a parent graduated. Even that was in maybe 2018 as there were a couple of kids born after their father died.”
“I posted in here asking for some advice a few days ago, and I’m happy to say that everybody in my school seems to be very happy now. Yay! submitted by /u/cricketcrunchiest [link] [comments]”
“A detailed daily plan with times, pull outs, etc. but, instead of a specific plan for math, it will say pull 1 of the math sheets from the pack. My worksheets are labeled by subjects so they know when to pull what. There will be like 3 math choices etc. I bought the activities from TPT Angela Watson 10 days of sub plans, best purchase ever. They're engaging but not too hard. For ela I'll have several choices, etc .. you get the picture I hope. Also, emergency procedures, who to contact f”
“They know that I have pets (and their names), my favorite books in the library, and some basic stories about me when I was a kid. If I was married or had kids they would know their names, too. When my mom died a couple years ago and I took time off some of the teachers shared that (with my permission). That’s definitely the most personal thing any kid knows unless we somehow know each other from outside of school. Pretty basic stuff- enough to be a human to them, though.”
I love this wording! Framing it as educational is perfect.
“I’m teaching 6th & 7th this year and I recently had a baby, so I’m having to pump at school all year long. My administration is great about this and I have two 30-minute times to do it. One of them I’m choosing to do over my prep, but the other has to be during one of my classes. So that class is being covered by someone else for 30 out of 45 minutes every day, which is huge. What do I even tell them? I’ve debated telling the truth or maybe saying something like “I I have to go to a meeting””
“But it’s my classroom, too. I spend more waking hours there than at home. I intentionally fill my classroom with things that support my pedagogy AND make me happy. The internet has nothing to do with it. Hope you feel empowered to do the same. Is it a lot? Yeah. Am I a lot? HELL YEAH. 😆”
Thank you!! I appreciate the encouragement and reminder to have fun!
“I'm a new k-3rd grade teacher and I really wanted to make a sort of keepsake for my first year teaching. I loved the idea that parents use where they have their child's teacher right them a letter in the "oh the places you'll go" book by Dr Seuss and then give it to the child on the graduation, but I was wondering if anyone had any book recommendations that are cute like that where I could have my students draw and sign their name on the pages as a keepsake for myself? Book”
“The attendance system we use shows us on the home page who has a birthday that day (that is in your class). I wish the kid a happy birthday and ask if they are doing anything fun to celebrate. I usually have some Jolly Ranchers in my desk so I give them a few.”
“Hi high school teachers, How do you acknowledge student birthdays? I like to do cute little things for my students. I’m a special education teacher and would only want to do this for my kids on my caseload/resource room. Last year, I bought a big pack of birthday cards and just wrote them a little note wishing them happy birthday. I thought about doing that again but feels a little lame. But do I just do it since I still have so many cards left? I thought about putting a sticker in the envelope”
“But probably 2 of my 23 students could really deserve a good, warm, happy email home right now lmfao. Anyone else feeling this? submitted by /u/Peanuts676767 [link] [comments]”
“We’ve been in school a week and a half, and Ive had three Stanley’s left in my class, and a jacket. submitted by /u/Emergency-Pepper3537 [link] [comments]”
“I taught at a school where this was an established tradition long before I got there: each department had a month where they would bring breakfast at the first staff meeting. It was a pretty well-liked tradition. I can see how it would go over poorly if it were brand new, but where I was it went back a long way and most people seemed to enjoy it.”
“Just bring 75 servings of the cheapest possible part of a meal or volunteer to bring something cheap and easy. Volunteering for juice can be really cheap because most teachers prefer coffee. Volunteer quickly, sound excited, and bring 3 containers of really cheap juices nobody wants.”
“My husband and I are both teachers, and our swear jar is going strong this year! Lots of clusterfuckery going on. Oop. There I go again….bet your vacation jar fills quickly.”
“This comment is criminally underrated. I'm leaving 200 likes here. They may be invisible, but we know.”
“I like to perform, dress up, etc, but not really for work, so i would hate it lmao. But i do agree, better this than a bullshit PD, just stinks we cant just take classes on our own or something. I do appreciate safety trainings”
“Losing a mom is so hard🥲Whoever doesn’t know your mom passed, let them know🦋Ask the other teachers to help you with lessons 🦋May you have peace🙏”
“The following is an actual email from my superintendent: “Hello All! Following Our District Opening all staff will travel to the auditorium for a talent show! Yes, there will be judges. Yes, there will be prizes. And yes, there will be bragging rights. Prizes will be awarded to our TOP THREE acts! ⚠️** IMPORTANT MOTIVATION ANNOUNCEMEN**T ⚠️ FAILURE TO SECURE AT LEAST 15 ACTS WILL RESULT IN A FULL DAY OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. We believe in your talent. But most importantly, we believe in your”
“Hi everyone! I’m a first year 5th grade teacher, and I have a tradition from a past teacher that I would like to continue. It’s called Flashback Friday. We listen to a song from before my students’ time (so before 2010), and they rate the song out of five stars and write three sentences about why they did or did not like the music/video. My problem is that I’m struggling to find clean and school appropriate music videos to show my students. I want to pull from all sorts of different genres. I do”
“This school year I decided to start an “emotional support meme train” for my fellow teachers (middle and high school). At our opening faculty meeting, I said anyone can swing by and ask to be added to the meme train, and I’ll send them a couple funny memes, no follow up questions asked. Apparently it was such a good idea that I’ve had several people reach out to me over the past two days (the first day of school was two days ago lol). I am quickly running out of memes! I would greatly appreciate”
“Hi! I’m a middle school English and Social Studies teacher and I’m honestly not great at decorating. I’d love some simple, age-appropriate ideas! What are the essentials you’d put on an English or Social Studies bulletin board? Any themes, must-haves, or pictures for inspiration would be really appreciated! submitted by /u/Gold-Painting-5299 [link] [comments]”
Solid reminder. Teaching exposes gaps faster than almost anything else.