This year’s Teacher Appreciation Week runs from May 5 – 9, giving students a formal opportunity to thank their teachers for the incalculable gift of knowledge. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination, after all, to see that education makes the difference between success and failure, between doors that open and doors that slam shut.
Because many students are too inexperienced to understand the magnitude of what their teachers give them every day, their parents are left wondering how best to express appreciation on their children’s behalf.
But advice columns and school newsletters are full of tips on what teachers don’t want. It seems we’ve been warned off of almost everything at some point. Sweets are a health risk. Gift cards are impersonal. Coffee mugs are ubiquitous. Cash is ethically problematic. Alcohol is inappropriate (or perhaps a bit too appropriate). Novelty items marked with world’s best teacher are just so much clutter.
While we here at Envision do not want to stop the flow of Teacher Appreciation Week celebrations, tokens and thank-you notes, we also want to take stock of the big-ticket items that teachers really need. What is it that parents can do to make teachers’ lives easier? To help teachers become more effective in their work? To enrich the classroom experiences of their children?
Survey Results Yield Solid Suggestions
A July 2013 survey published by Scholastic and the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation took a close look at the experiences and observations of over 20,000 public school teachers. The survey, Primary Sources: America’s Teachers on Teaching in an Era of Change, asked a series of questions about teaching, Common Core standards, evaluation and collaboration.
Participating teachers came from all 50 states and taught pre-K through 12th grade. Many of the survey responses translate directly into concrete suggestions for what would make them more effective teachers.
The things they said may surprise you. While most of us know that teachers rarely enter the field for its material rewards, a full 98 percent of teachers agreed with the statement that “teaching is more than a profession; it is how they make a difference in the world—one child at a time.”
So what are teachers wishing for? Topping their wish list is parents who do the following things:
- Make sure that students miss as little school as possible (98 percent).
- Work collaboratively with teachers when the child has academic and/or behavioral challenges (97 percent).
- Set high expectations for their child (97 percent).
- Encourage and ensure that their child completes school assignments (96 percent).
- Talk to their child about how he/she is doing in school (96 percent).
- Contact the teacher with questions and concerns (95 percent).
- Talk to the teacher about goals and expectations for their child (93 percent).
- Attend parent/teacher conferences (92 percent).
- Make sure that the child has access to books at home or through a library (91 percent).
- Become involved at the school or with school activities (84 percent).
- Help their child with homework (76 percent).
background-image: a building with the American flag in front of it