This year go ahead and get your kid’s teacher an end of year gift. In fact, if you’re still working, make it a good one. They really deserve it.
Distance learning is difficult emotionally and physically. Your teachers all had to turn on a dime to get this thing running for the kids. As an observer, I see the mental fatigue as so much different from the typical teacher’s work day. It is a peculiar blend of being continuously connected but still disconnected. The school day has a way of creeping into the whole day. There is eye strain, back strain, an inability to move much during the work sessions, hurried meals between student meetings without the usual social benefits of the school house or the teacher’s room. The quick transition from one one-on-one session to the next is more like a call center than a classroom.
Beyond that the teachers miss your kids, they miss seeing the games, recess, plays, choir, music, and art. I think they even miss the bickering, the drama, and the social intrigues.
And we are all waiting to see what the fall will hold.
Ordinarily at this time of year I write to suggest that if you have difficulty hitting the sweet spot with the teacher gift that a gift in their name to the Brunswick Community Education Foundation (BCEF) might be a good solution.
The original post—updated a bit—is down below.
No doubt about it, the BCEF is still a great cause; if you can afford it please make them a gift too. After all, just a couple of months ago when distance learning went from being a concept to a fact of daily life in the blink of an eye, BCEF jumped right in to fill a funding gap. BCEF purchased 50 new chrome books to help the Brunswick Schools assure access to the new online teaching norm.
And BCEF is missing you too. Spark, its annual shindig, celebration and fundraiser was cancelled like so many other things.
The post below originally appeared in May 2015 in a separate blog focusing on Brunswick
At this time of year we get asked a lot what makes a good teacher gift. We are sort of experts. My wife Beth is a third generation public school teacher in her district. She has more than twenty years experience on the receiving end of year-end gifts that run the gamut from truly touching, to truly comical, to truly insane, to truly practical.
Will your. teacher gift collect dust with the scented candles of year’s past or will it help nest year’s Jewll Island Team at BJHS connect with Casco Bay through an expeditionary learning program?
To get the right teacher gift you have to know the person, or at least know something about them. And they’re just like us, they’re all different.
Except in one important respect: they all want to help our children learn and grow.
Even with our family’s vast experience we too have been stymied in our efforts to appropriately acknowledge the work and personal commitment each teacher makes to our children. There are plenty of road blocks. As your kids get older the personal connection you have with each teacher diminishes somewhat; let’s face it, a teacher in grades K-2 can serve as a surrogate family member. But your 9th grader’s Math teacher? Not so much. You may not even recognize your kids’ high school teachers.
How can we thank them all? One thing they all have in common: they all want to help our children learn and grow.
And then there’s the expense. When your first kid hits the junior high teacher gifts take on a whole new meaning. You’ve got L/A, social studies, math, science, languages, art, band, chorus, PE. And maybe there’s someone else over there your child has formed a special bond with: nurse, coach, librarian, crossing guard, bus-driver, the extraordinary volunteer. They’re all deserving.
How can we thank them all? One thing they all have in common: they all want to help our children learn and grow.
It’s a busy time of year. Shopping for everyone, if you’re trying to be thoughtful at all, will burn out the best if us. It’s like Christmas but we don’t even get to see them open their presents (they do it late at night at the kitchen table while they’re thinking about whether they should go in the next day to finish year-end paperwork). So if you can’t really shop, a gift certificate works well.
But even a gift certificate has its drawbacks—still, how well do we know these people? Is Ms. Smith an Applebee’s person, or more like Wild Oats Bakery? Mr. Jones looks like he could use some exercise but will the Cross-fit certificate be an insult? To be sure you probably won’t go wrong with LLBean or Gelato Fiasco but $5 or $10 doesn’t buy much gelato. We’ve got a 9th grader, 6th grader and a 4th grader. Just the 9th grader has eight content teachers and six coaches. They’re all deserving.
One thing they all have in common: they all want to help our children learn and grow.
The first time we faced this dilemma was back when our 9th grader was in 6th grade. We asked a friend who happened to teach at BJHS. She said, “just a card with a note that really expresses how you feel about them will go so much further than a gift certificate or a scented candle. But if you really know them, or your child has a unique idea, then maybe a token that complements the note is OK too.”
So many teachers, coaches, helpers and favorite crossing guards. If you are having a hard time coming up with a teacher gift consider a gift to BCEF (bonus, it’s tax deductible).
If you really know them you know that they all want to help our children learn and grow.
The Brunswick Community Education Foundation has a great way for you to thank your teacher this spring. BCEF provided more than $35,000 in grants to the teachers of the Brunswick School Department this spring. They did it by collecting contributions from parents, community members, and businesses around town. The grants serve to supplement our children’s learning experiences and increase the ability of our teachers to do their jobs (without having to spend their own hard-earned pay to fill in gaps).
The grants run the spectrum from musical instruments and books, to classroom visits from birds. The grants covered all ages, and covered the full range of learning styles in the student population—all students will benefit. A list of the 2015 grant recipients is here. It’s a great way to thank your teacher and make their job just a little bit easier next year.