End-of Year Teacher Gift!

WINE TALK
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From one family, 2 bottles of Bollinger. [wow.gif]

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this year I’m giving 09 Hobel to the favorite teachers, with the cool craftsman label. Honorable work, those teachers.

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Teaching is honorable work. Unfortunately, this gift-giving stuff creates major problems, particularly for the kids whose parents don’t participate in the “recognition” or “competition.” As the middle child in a not-well-to-do family with 8 children, I still remember those days of watching that gift-giving.

Do everyone a favor and just don’t do it. Or do it in a way that is not visible to those around you. No 8 year old kid can buy his teacher a bottle of Champagne.

Uh oh, just before I posted this, I realized Barry is a teacher and was probably on the receiving end, not just commenting on the “competition” from another parent. Oh well, I still believe in what I said.

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Barry, well deserved, enjoy!

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My friend teaches in a well-to-do area plus he is the AP Physics teacher so many kids rely on him for college recommendations. He does receive some nice gifts. I assure you it’s a nice surprise for him but he’s not putting in more effort just to get an extra ‘vig.’ A box of cookies or a sincere thank-you note from parents who acknowledge the positive impact he has had on their child’s life goes much farther than a $100 gift card.

Enjoy, Barry!

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I give my sincere thanks and gratitude. Probably more appreciated than a gift., but don’t get me wrong, a gift is an awesome gesture. Most people would just do…nothing.

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I’m an administrator now, but I spent 20 years in the classroom. Two gifts I received from students and their families meant the most.

I grew up in Ohio and moved to Corpus Christi, Texas to teach. I knew virtually nothing about Hispanic culture and had no clue about tamales. My first Christmas break, I received 23 dozen hand made tamales from the family of the students I taught. Many of these families would have had to scrape together funds to purchase a gift so something homemade meant so much more. As the band program grew, I learned to bring an ice chest to school just so I could carry them all home. I quickly learned the art of thawing frozen tamales and had many months of great winter eating.

When I announced that I was moving to become the Director of Fine Arts, I knew it would be tough leaving the students. Near the end, my students gave me an iPod. It wasn’t the iPod that was important but they had loaded every concert I had conducted in the 14 years I taught on that campus onto the device.

Everyone likes to feel appreciated and teachers are no different. I don’t know of any of my colleagues that ever expected a gift although I am sure that there are some out there. It’s the personal gesture that matters and means the most. With the beating our profession has taken by some in the political punditry, telling a teacher “i appreciate what you have done for my child” means much more than you might imagine.

Monte

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That was such a thoughtful gesture. [cheers.gif]

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The heck with that, I’ll take the $100 gift card.

Hell, I’ll take Visa, Mastercard, Amex, . . . [snort.gif]


Seriously, I had no idea Americans gave gifts to teachers. I’ve had this problem only with foreign students. I personally would prefer students and their parents not give gifts. A meaningful note is more appropriate imo.

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Excellent Barry, clearly a gift for a job done very well!

My sister was a Master Teacher in Houston and received some nice gifts. A good teacher is worth his/her weight in Bollinger.

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My dad taught at A.I. Dupont High School in Delaware about 40 years ago. One year after nudging, pushing and dragging a couple of the lesser motivated Duponts to the graduation line he received a call from the father who told him that my parents were welcome to spend an evening at his country club and to simply sign the senior Dupont’s name to any bills and that the staff would be expecting them. That was a pretty big deal for them!

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WAs in the same situation myself, except that I was the middle child of a much smaller family, still one with no money, however.

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And that is absolutely great - handled privately and without subjecting the kids in the class to the hurtful experience of having parents who can’t or won’t “do.”

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Wonder what kind of gifts Francis receives/received. [whistle.gif]

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That’s wonderful Ken. As it happens I’m friends with a couple who have a child who is one of your students. They asked for advice as to what to give you to show the appreciation they have for the wonderful job you do. I recommended and they agreed to give you a magnum of 78 Giacosa CR that was personally delivered by the master himself upon release and nestled lovingly into their temp and humidity controlled cellar since. The bottle has remained their undisturbed for 30 years now. I’ll let them know a firm handshake and a job well done is all you ask.

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Students moms ?

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[snort.gif]

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I teach 7th grade. While I love Starbucks cards and cookies and appreciate the thought behind all of them, it’s the notes that mean the most. I’d take a sincere note from a kid over $100 every time.

That being said, if there was a sincere note from the kid AND a nice bottle of champagne, then I guess I couldn’t exactly complain either.

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I have been teaching kindergarten and first grade in a middle class community for over 16 years. I have received many gifts from children. Large and small. I always quickly put the gift bag or card behind my desk when given to me so the others children may not notice.

The gifts have never changed the way I have taught any child or the way I feel about them. My favorite gifts are the kind cards, hand made ornaments and once got a concrete step with the child’s hand print with tiles shaped as a rainbow. At the bottom, they wrote ‘I wish you a rainbow’. One of many messages children use to write messages to each other. My favorite gift was a bag of brick-a-brack; beads, stickers, a couple of shiny rocks and some sea shells- truly from the child!

That said, I have enjoyed many nice bottles of wine(a few that knew about my wine hobby) and gift cards to restaurants in my area. I am like anyone- I love presents!

But, still, the kind words in a card are the best ones that bring tears of joy to my eyes.

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It was both; Champagnes and a very sweet card…The Champagne is dry and the card is sweet; the way I like it!