How to Thank a Teacher: Apple-Related Gifts Are Nice, but What They Really Want is a Card or Thank-You Note

By Cassandra Spratling, Detroit Free Press

May 31–End of the school year means final exam time.

So, parents, take out a No. 2 pencil and circle the correct answer.

Question: What gift do teachers appreciate most at the end of the school year?

Answer:

A. One of those cute coffee mugs inscribed with teacher-tailored drawings or comments.

B. A bright, colorful cheery tie or scarf embossed with smiling faces of happy, happy children.

C. A sincere note of appreciation.

Hint: Put the coffee mug back NOW!

The ties, coffee mugs and apple-shaped pendants are appreciated and even useful sometimes, but teachers have enough of them already.

Teachers who responded to our homework assignment told us the gifts they need and appreciate.

Be assured, teachers like gifts — a few suggestions from them are on this page. But the gift mentioned most often costs more in time than in cash: a thank you card or letter that is specific and honest.

“I am moved to tears with a homemade card and note, one where the student recalls a memory from the year or shares with me an important thing they learned while in my class, either about themselves as learners or the subject matter,” says Karin Nanos of Upland Hills School in Lake Orion.”I get this kind of feedback, it helps me to continue to grow into the best teacher I can be for those students,” says Nanos, who teaches all subjects and grades in the preschool through middle-grades school.

“Many times parents put a lot of effort into gifts when the really best gifts are very simple,” Nanos says.

You don’t even have to write a note of gratitude, some teachers say. Hearing it means a lot to Ardis Herrold, a 27-year veteran who teaches astronomy and chemistry at Grosse Pointe North High School.

“The best gift has been when a student says “Thanks. You made a difference. I’ll never forget you,” she says.

To pump up the power, however, notes of gratitude should be specific.

“Has the teacher ever done something special for your child, like loan him a dollar for lunch, stay after to help with her schoolwork, offer a smile and kind word on a bad day?” asks Mary Ellen Bell, English, drama and journalism teacher at Lamphere High School in Madison Heights.

“Maybe the teacher wrote a letter of recommendation or spoke up on the student’s behalf,” Bell says. “Teachers consistently create a positive environment for your child, and work hard every single day and many nights and weekends.

“My most treasured gifts are those cards and letters I have received over the years from students and parents, in which they detail what impact I had on them and offer a heartfelt thank you. On really bad days, these are lifelines, and I enjoy remembering the times I spent with these students. A well-written and meaningful letter is a wonderful gift.”

Kristi Kruger teaches concert, jazz and marching band at Allen Park High. She also enjoys re-reading notes of appreciation.

“I always like to put these notes in my portfolio, and then when I reorganize about once a year, I read the notes again and it reminds me how special the teaching profession is, and what an awesome responsibility and gift it truly is to teach and influence young minds,” Kruger says.

Make sure your child — not you — delivers the note.

What I find most rewarding is the note’s special delivery — by small hands filled with promise,” said Sherry Meklir, a second grade teacher at Detroit’s Winterhalter Elementary School.

Cleverness and creativity make the gratitude greater, some teachers say.

Amie Van Horn, an English teacher at Stevenson High School in Livonia, gave examples of cards she got and appreciated when surgery forced her to cut her school year short this year.

“I was, and still am, incredibly overwhelmed with emotion when I read through their cards,” Van Horn says. “These construction-paper messages include such touching phrases as, ‘You are one of my favorite teachers’ and ‘I am soooo glad I was in your class this year’ to the more humorous, ‘U tawt me 2 reed.’

“One simple note on a card captures the ideal gift,” Van Horn says. “The student wrote, ‘Come back quicker than Odysseus did.’ This message came from a senior who studied ‘The Odyssey’ with me as a freshman. While I laughed at the clever comparison, I cried realizing he remembered something I taught him so long ago.

Van Horn continues: “Like their own students, teachers need reassurance that their hard work matters. They need encouragement to put forth their best effort every day.”

Van Horn says notes of appreciation from high schoolers are especially appreciated because they’re not as common as the gifts teachers of young children receive.

“Instead, it is usually our fault a student has been grounded or been assigned that hour detention,” she says. “Thus, when we are recognized for our efforts, it is all the more moving.”

One teacher suggested that in addition to thanking the teacher personally, students and parents tell the teachers’ supervisors and even the school board that the teacher is doing well.

“It seems as though people are quick to complain when something goes wrong and I think that giving someone a compliment for doing a good job often goes overlooked,” says Aaron Mollett, seventh-grade math teacher at O.W. Best Middle School in Dearborn Heights.

Parents, if you simply can’t get that adorable “#1 TEACHER” coffee mug out of your mind, go for it, but wrap it with a gift card to a coffee shop and a note inside.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Detroit Free Press

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