Teacher Appreciation Week for Kids
At one point or another, we have all had a teacher. Teachers come in all shapes, sizes, and specialties, be it a collection of different and well-versed professors or a tutor whom you learned from for only a few weeks. With all of these hardworking people looking after our students, shouldn’t there be a time to show them some appreciation and thanks? Well, there is! Teacher Appreciation Week is a time to hold your teachers up with gratitude, give them special presents, and show how much you truly appreciate their efforts in teaching you or your children everything they know! Let’s learn about the history and importance of Teacher Appreciation Week together!
What is Teacher Appreciation Week?
Teacher Appreciation Week is when schools, students, parents, and more come together to show their teachers the appreciation they deserve! Created in the 1950s, Teacher Appreciation Week was crafted to let teachers have a week to experience their pupils returning their knowledge and respect!
Many students may organize teachers’ parties or celebrations, while others prepare gifts. Some establishments may even give their teachers a day off as a reward for their hard work! Regardless, Teacher Appreciation Week is a time to show your teachers how much you care for them and the knowledge they bestow upon you!
When is Teacher Appreciation Week?
Teacher Appreciation Week occurs at the beginning of May, during the first full week. From May 1st to May 8th in 2022, schools, colleges, and other organizations and establishments will each prepare for this holiday in their special way! This week of appreciation is never moved, but some states may adjust Teacher Appreciation Day (which occurs in the middle of the week, usually on May 5th or 6th) to suit their school seasons better. For example, in Massachusetts, Teacher Appreciation Day was moved to November 6th for a time and now resides on the first Sunday of June for their annual Teacher Appreciation Day. Most other states stick to the first week of May, though!
History of Teacher Appreciation Week
Teachers have existed for thousands of years, even before what we know as schools! Philosophers, writers, and scientists were all teachers in their own right, creating theories and passages taught at meetings with like-minded individuals. Teaching is perhaps the oldest known profession in the world, rivaling even kings or lords. The first known teacher could be Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, or the Greeks, who placed value in agoras (gatherings of philosophers and students who discussed the world, life, and the value humans put into everything around them) and educating children. Teacher Appreciation Week was not created so far in the past, however.
Around the mid-1940s, Teacher Appreciation Day emerged from not-so-well-known origins. Ryan Krug was a Wisconsin teacher looking to inspire gratitude from the government and students who all benefited from their school teachers and tutors. He called his local educational leaders, which soon led to him convincing political leaders to try and establish the very first Teacher Appreciation Day! Though his efforts were not met through his singular contribution, his earnest attitude and wish for this annual celebratory day for teachers inspired many other educators throughout the nation. Teacher Appreciation Day finally reached the ear of Congress when an Arkansas teacher by the name of Mattie Whyte Woodridge made a very important call to a certain First Lady
Theodore Roosevelt’s wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, was a prolific writer who understood the importance of educating the youth of America. Mattie called Eleanor, relaying Krug’s notions of introducing a Teacher Appreciation Day into the national calendar. Eleanor agreed with their fight for teacher appreciation and went to Congress to implore them to establish a day for Teacher Appreciation in 1953. The National Education Association joined Eleanor, Indiana, Kansas, and other establishments in lobbying for the day until Congress conceded in a one-year-only Teacher Appreciation Day on March 7th, 1980. This single day turned to the NEA observing Teacher Appreciation Day every first Tuesday of March for the following years.
Teacher Appreciation Week was finally created in 1985 when the National PTA assigned the first week of May to the annual holiday. The NEA then made Teacher Appreciation Day fall on the Tuesday of the week-long event. From then on, Teacher Appreciation Week has been observed by every state and almost every school in the nation. Students, parents, and administrators come together around the United States to honor those hard-working people who have brought light and education to the masses!
Are There Other Teacher Appreciation Holidays?
Around the world, teachers everywhere work hard to bring knowledge to their students. Thus, it is to be assumed that many other countries have their own Teacher Appreciation Week! October 5th is World Teacher’s Day, observed by over 100 countries worldwide! This group includes Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Serbia, Portugal, Russia, and more!
Puerto Rico celebrates Teacher Appreciation Day the Friday before Mother’s Day. Some countries like Latvia celebrate in the fall and usually either cancel classes taught by teachers or have courses taught by older pupils, allowing teachers to break from the usual hustle and bustle of teaching! Most coOf course, mosties have their special
Why is Teacher Appreciation Week Important?
Many people do not get offered the appreciation they may deserve. The highest among them are our teachers, who work hard every year to craft lessons and create safe spaces for their students to learn and grow without worry. Teacher Appreciation Week is important because these people deserve to be recognized for all the work they put into their craft! Students may not realize just how much work their teachers put into their classes.
It is easy to look past the work teachers put into each little assignment and task. Some students may not notice if a teacher adjusts something in the classroom or creates more engaging worksheets! This is why appreciation days are necessary– to make a chance for those missed moments to shine!
Teachers possess many skills, responsibilities, and desires like any other person! By showing a teacher your gratitude towards their work, they will feel confident to strive for bigger and better endeavors in the future. Therefore, always showing how much you care for your teachers is vital!
What are a Teacher’s Responsibilities
Teachers have many vital responsibilities to do their job well, like any other job. Most of your teacher’s roles may seem obvious to a student: they curate worksheets, homework, readings, and research to give to students and keep their workspaces clean (this can vary depending on the teacher, many have to keep an entire classroom tidy! That’s a lot of work), grade papers, tests, and homework, and continue to learn from furthering research that occurs even after they are out of school. That’s a lot of work for one person, yet all teachers are ready to do it all!
If you want an easy-to-remember list of your teacher’s responsibilities, here are five that all teachers probably focus on to ensure they are in top form!
- Support: Your teacher is here to support you with classwork or mental health guidance. Not all teachers are well-versed in helping students who struggle with mental health, of course, but they are pillars that can be nice to lean on when working through a certain class! Always remember your teacher wants the best for you, so ask for help and support if you need it!
- Helping: Support and help may seem like similar responsibilities, but they are different in very important ways. You can lean on a supportive teacher and ask for help in endeavors, but a helping teacher can help you when you’re having trouble with a question, research, or a bully. Your teacher will help you, be sure to ask!
- Mentor: All teachers are mentors. Mentors, in general, stand as leaders, be they in knowledge or available power, that are there to help guide individuals down a certain path. In that sense, all your teachers are your mentors in higher education. You may find yourself with one teacher knowledgeable on a skill you wish to obtain– that teacher becomes your mentor!
- Learning: Teachers must continue learning even after they are out of school. Teachers are students in their sense, developing skills to help better their classroom and better aid the previous responsibilities on this list. In addition, teachers must keep up on current events related to their field of study, new findings, and more! Research is just as important as homework!
- Informer: Finally, your teacher is an informer. They will share their knowledge with you to better aid your understanding of the concepts at hand. Your teacher’s major responsibility is informing and teaching students about the world!
How do you Become a Teacher?
Becoming a teacher is rather simple in the long run. Most states have their particular practices and licenses required. Still, the universal norm is that you must obtain a bachelor’s degree in any study you desire, complete your state-issued teacher preparation program, pass the exams required to allow you to teach in your state, and then apply for a teaching license. Certain conditions, like New York, can give you consent allowing you to teach worldwide, while others only allow you to teach in the state where you acquired the license! Once all these tests and permits are complete and gathered, you can start applying for teaching positions!
How to Celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week
Teacher Appreciation Week is, of course, a week-long event! So there are numerous ways to celebrate your teachers throughout this week! If you are a parent of younger children, you can help them celebrate their teachers by helping them by sending cards or e-mails to their teachers! Thank you cards made with your children’s drawings and writing will mean so much to the teachers who watch over them daily!
Older students can bring their teachers gifts! It may be cliche to get your teacher an apple, but I don’t know a single teacher who would turn down a delicious snack! In addition, candy, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, chalk, scissors, and even gift cards to office supply stores or general online shops are all wonderful gifts that your teachers will appreciate! These gifts will also help out in the future when your teachers may need help gathering supplies for class.
Some teachers may offer to host a party during the week in their classroom! Students should pitch in by decorating, cleaning the classroom, and preparing snacks for the party day! Your teachers will feel the love if you all help them celebrate this week of appreciation! And afterward, be sure to help them clean up!
5 Facts About Teacher Appreciation Week
- Have you ever wondered just how many teachers are out there in America? According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are probably around 3.1 million full-time teachers in public schools and 0.4 million teachers in private schools. That’s a lot of mentors, not even professors in higher education!
- The National PTA’s Facebook offers a variety of fun ways to show your teachers your appreciation through gift ideas and questions that you can answer that will help you show your teacher your appreciation! These questions are uploaded every day during Teacher Appreciation Week
- Since its inception in the 80s, Teacher Appreciation Week has never been skipped and is always observed by the National PTA and the schools who celebrate it!
- Why do kids give teachers apples in cartoons and movies? Back in the day, it was a parent’s job to feed their children and the Frontier teachers who worked at the schoolhouses! So students will bring a snack to their teacher at the behest of their parents! And this tradition continues to this day, making apples a symbol of knowledge and school.
Eleanor Roosevelt, the first lady who implored Congress to establish a Teacher Appreciation Day, was a powerful advocate for the youth of America and believed schools should be safe spaces for any child to learn!
