So I’m not just focusing on the Champagne, the card reads…
**Dear Mr. Sunderland,
Thanks SO much for an awesome year! Your enthusiasm for learning is infectious-and it definitely shows in your students. Natalie had a wonderful experience in your class. Every day was an adventure, which she eagerly shared with us when we talked about our days at the dinner table. Natalie said she wished she could stay in 3rd grade, so she could stay in your class. I’m told that a lot of students feel the same way! Brainiacs rock!**
The ONLY reason I focused on the bottles of Bollinger IS…this IS a wine board!!!
Happen to run in to a table of 4 teachers at a local restaurant who all at one time had taught one of my kids. I don’t think they were drinking Bollinger, but I had the waitress move their bill on to mine. I didn’t say anything to the teachers and just left. They were quite surprised and very grateful as we got 4 wonderfully written thank you notes the next day.
Thanks for the reminder to send notes to the good teachers my kids have had this year. Sadly, my 7th grader has been plagued by a “couldn’t give a f*ck” moron who has ruined his enjoyment of science and introduced him to the cynicism of “just do whatever will get a good grade since I’m not learning anything anyway”–a lesson I had hoped would be saved for high school. I had been entertaining all kinds of thoughts of how to “thank” him but at least the district has done me a solid by forcing him into early retirement–albeit with full pension. There is not a person I know who will miss him.
On the other hand, Nate’s band teacher is also retiring one year short of 35 years (in the same wave of old guard being moved out of the school) and he is a miraculous teacher who has spawned more than one generation of amazing musicians, and inspired my son to want to study jazz saxophone at the arts high school. That guy is getting a personalized gift from the kids (self-organized), a generous gift from current and former parents and a reunion concert at the local music school (where most of the local kids take private lessons) where former and current students are going to play for him.
So when I think about the people who have dedicated their lives to activating a lifelong love for learning and thinking in me and my kids, I guess I can just let those few idiots fade into the background.
A friend of mine, who is also a wine buff and a professor at a well known university, had a PhD student from France. When the student had her PhD defense, her mother brought my friend a bottle of 1985 La Tache as a gift. (This was back in the 1990s, but still …) So, of course, he sends me an email “Sylvie’s mom gave me a bottle of 1985 La Tache!!!” I wrote back “I usually make mine write a thesis, but I like your idea much better!”
I had a fabulous fourth grade teacher. For political reasons (he was flamboyantly homosexual and the school passed him over for a promotion into an administrative job because of it - this was ~20 years ago), he left my school and moved across the country to another school. Years later, I was a finalist for a pretty big academic award given to high school seniors. They asked for the name of the teacher you’d want to come to Washington with you, if you won - and I put his name.
They tracked him down. He called me. I think that was better than any gift I could’ve given him.
I had an incredible Biology II AP teacher…who also happened to be my BIO I teacher at a previous high school. She was the most devoted professor I’ve ever seen. She took a personal interest in her students, invited whole classes into her home on the weekends leading up to the AP exam, and spent hours walking me and a couple others through additional studies. The studies paid off in a big way, and quite a few years later I still think of her. So, about a month ago I looked her up, sent her a two page letter thanking her, letting her know what a role model she was, and how much her selflessness really mean’t to me.
Her response was immediate, involved tears, and a lot of love. More than anything, I’m just glad she knows how much of an impact she made on my life.
You teachers really do have an enormous impact on students’ lives. I can still name almost every teacher that really made a difference in my life and my studies. Thank you so much for everything you do.
My 7th grade science teacher was eccentric and inspiring to me and a lot of others. He brought exotic animals into class. One day a large lizard crapped on his sleeve. Needless to say, that was a highlight, at least to us 7th grade boys. The year after I had him, he had a big tenure battle with the board (mostly due to his strong political opinions which he never shared in class). Many of us wrote on his behalf. Later, when I was in college, I heard he was quite sick and needed blood. I came home from college to give blood, as did many of my classmates.
Another teacher I had was a “spinster” (as they used to say) for 10th and 12th grade English. Years later, I ran into her in a supermarket. I told her honestly that I never liked her when I was in her classes, but in the long-run she really helped inspire my life-long love of literature and that made her an excellent teacher in my book. (See what I did there?)
I taught middle school for a couple of years and found it to be incredibly demanding and draining. Can’t imagine teaching for 20-odd years. Some of my colleagues who were veterans really struggled with the physical and psychological toll.
With teacher-bashing so in fashion in the media, it’s nice to see all the positive comments in this thread.
I think it’s been great reading through this thread. In fact, it’s motivated me to track down a few of my old teachers and send them notes of appreciation.
Gift FAIL:
I student taught at a very rural Virginia H.S. and the teachers told a story that one year a student brought all his teachers and administrators bottles of family made moonshine. He had to be expelled because of having alcohol on school property…
Indeed. I came from a rather low income family, and never really had the opportunity to give a gift to a teacher, and honestly I don’t feel hurt, ashamed, or have lost any sleep over it. I never saw it as a competition, I guess. If I wanted to thank a teacher, I’d do so, and think anyone can afford that!
We teachers definitely appreciate all forms of respect and kindness from our students, their families, and positive threads like these.
My partner and I work in school districts with relatively high numbers of parents with means, and so have enjoyed some nice gifts, including wine, over the years. However, I’d just as soon get a sincere note from a kid than a fancy gift or gift card from a parent. I have kept every thank you note or card over the years and that’s a really special box of memories that will last forever. Naturally, a nice note AND a bottle of Don Melchor was the best present ever…
People with the dispensation to make nice gifts usually have the tact to do so after the rec letter was sent in or at the end of the school year. There are parents who make large donations to the school and then expect special treatment (like with scheduling certain teachers) but if anything, that sort of expectation backfires. Teachers appreciate kudos and respect, but it isn’t respectful to think that we can be bought, or to think that your child deserves better service than another kid because you contributed to the school in some way. Still, not every principal or booster-dependent staff member is enlightened enough to disregard where the money comes from and I wish it were common practice to be generous (thank you!), but defer any large donations or personal gifts until the student is moving on. Everyone thinks they are more objective than they really are.
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but I had the waitress move their bill on to mine. I didn’t say anything to the teachers and just left. They were quite surprised and very grateful as we got 4 wonderfully written thank you notes the next day.