I appreciate when parents and students think of me, their lowly Art Teacher. Really, I do. But, I must say the industry of “teacher’s gift” manufacturers really should drown in a vat of boiling oil laden with kitschy apple and chalkboard knick-knacks.
A quick search on ebay reveals these gems that just take up closet space:
I think you get the idea.
Once again, I am happy to get a gift and I appreciate the thought. Things I’d appreciate more are: donations to my school, paypal gift certificates, and donations of supplies that are on my wish list. Cars, vacations and large checks are always welcome as well. (Well, I can dream.)
Thank you for thinking of your teachers! Shop responsibly!
I work around a lot of teachers and student teachers (college bookstore, the city campus which specializes in education certification) and some of the clothes… oh my.
LOTS of denim shirts with embroidered apples and ABC 123 and that crap. I feel sorry for them. (not that I’m a great dresser, but it seems like they feel they have to wear these clothes to be teacherly).
Yes. Please, please, please, if you feel compelled to give me a gift (and I do appreciate the thought) please don’t give me anything with a picture of an apple or a heartwarming sentiment. Give me something I can use in my classroom- a better pencil sharpener, markers for the whiteboard, wooden pencils 'cause your kid keeps stealing mine, paperclips and binder clips and staples. Or, if you want to be personal, gift certificates to restaurants and bookstores.
My daughter made gifts for some of her favorite teachers - tree ornaments one year, a variety of cookies another. When I see the store shelves full of cheesy teacher gifts, I feel so sorry for the poor potential recipients.
When I was able, I sent in stuff they could use in class.
In elementary school, they encouraged us not to bring gifts in. Something about not wanting to deal with “favouritism” or what not. Some kids brought stuff in anyway, and the teachers usually accepted them with a “thank you”. My grade 7 teacher, though, when accepting the gifts would place them on a table in front of the class and spent half the day “admiring” them, and thanked the students who brought them in loudly and made those of us who didn’t bring them in feel semi-guilty.
Once I hit high school, I gave my teachers, at least the ones I liked chocolate. Everyone needs chocolate.
Urrgghh…they manufacture the same sort of crap for nurses, too. 'Cause, you know, we’re all just cuddly angels of mercy, not professionals, or anything.
Oh god…I always feel so hypocritical at this time of year. I get all these…lovely gifts. Things that I put in my closet and pull out in my bi-annual cleaning and donate to Goodwill. Of course I’m grateful for the thought, it’s what counts after all. But if you really want it to be meaningful, remember that we aren’t just teachers, we don’t live every single moment of our days longing to scream to the world that we are teachers through calico mugs and embroidered denim shirts. I second the gift certificate idea.
And 7 up yours, chocolate is lovely, I love chocolate. Too much. When you end up with 5 pounds of assorted bon bons, kisses, and other assortments…so much for the last 7 months of dieting.
The grade school my kids attended put a Christmas tree in the lobby and encouraged the students to bring in gifts for the underprivileged. In lieu of teacher gifts. Some people did both, but I always thought it was a nice idea.
Of course, we also did teacher appreciation throughout the year. Each student in each class was assigned a time period and during that time they were supposed to bring in something small for the teacher. A couple of cookies, a flower or two, maybe a balloon, maybe lunch from a local place, even just a note, to say thank you. The idea was not to spend big money, but to let the teachers know that we cared and appreciated what they did. And it was all supposed to be anonymous and sneaky, so that often nobody knew except the teacher and that particular family. That way, it didn’t matter if someone did more, or less, than someone else. I’d like to do that kind of thing at the high school now, but it’s really hard to be anonymous about anything there, what with security and all.
I chaired the teacher appreciation committee at school a few years ago, and since I have friends who are teachers, I sounded them out about gifties. Granted, we were on a budget and had 40 teachers to appreciate, but we decided to do small gift bags in the teachers’ mailboxes during the week and have a luncheon for them on Friday.
Day 1: sample-sized bubble bath and body lotion, a packet of herbal tea, one of those de-stressing squeezy balls and a little 4-piece box of chocolate mints wrapped up in paper that said, “We appreciate your commit-MINT.”
Day 2: a box of paper clips, a sheet of smiley face stickers, 2 pencils, a red pen, a desk planner, a rubber stamp that said “GOOD JOB!” and some Wite-Out. Ummm. We presented this one in a tiny little tote bag with an apple on it…
Day 3: a bookmark and a $5 gift card for the local bookstore.
Day 4: a $5 Blockbuster gift card and a packet of microwave popcorn.
On Friday we made the kids eat lunch in their classrooms and set up a “candlelit brunch” buffet in the cafeteria: parents brought in brunch-y foods, each teacher’s place was set with a scented votive, we dimmed the lights and set up a CD player to play soft classical music.
My mom has been teaching the kindergarten to grade 2 age range for many years, and has accumulated a frightening amount of “teacher” gifts. Between her and her sister, a kindergarten teacher, the last day of class before christmas can be downright scary! The thing is, 99% of these tacky gifts were obiously chosen by that child, in the Dollar Store, and paid for with their very own dollar!. From a 6 year old, no matter how ugly it is, at least you know it came from the heart!
Er, can I just point out that “Teachers” is a fairly widely known brand of whiskey here in the UK. No one would ever dream of giving it to their teacher as a present.
I have teachers in my family, so once my kids started school, I knew better than to give “teachery” stuff. We usually do a nice heartfelt note of appreciation, and a gift certificate to the local Great Harvest bread store, or local bookstore.
The links in the OP are horrifying. Fortunately, my husband has never received anything quite that bad. Maybe he dodges the worst of it because he’s male?
Regarding “Teacher’s whiskey” - several of the boxes my parents used for storage in the garage where Teacher’s whiskey boxes. Since they were both teachers, when I was younger I figured there was a special brand for every occupation.
As a child I enjoyed the chocolate and food gifts very much; thank you all.
Teachers I really like (a distressing amount of them, actually) get something either non-teachery (I got my Spanish teacher flowers last June), or something subject-related. I’m currently doing mental battle with myself over whether or not to get this for my Theory of Knowledge teacher or myself.
My freshman history teacher had the following policy: No gifts, because his wife had just given birth to twins, very shortly after they had gotten married, and they had enough junk in their house (which they had just moved into). Unless, of course, we wanted to get him a helicopter, tank, hummer, or house down the shore.
