Teaching is a team effort. It takes a village. This holds true in the brick-and-mortar school environment and in distance learning. The better the relationship you have with your students and their families, the more successful you will be. That’s why this Teacher Appreciation Week, it’s important to recognize teachers and the families of our students.
Thank You to Families that are Stepping up as Educators!
The teacher-student-family relationship is more important than ever with distance learning. We as educators need to look back and reflect on how we’ve formed relationships with our students’ families.
Our students’ families are doing the bulk of the teaching right now. Yes, teachers are creating the lessons. Yes, we’re providing students with instruction through Zoom, Google, or whatever platform we’re using. But our students’ families take the reins after we’re done. It’s the families who make sure their children show up to scheduled video meets, get work done, and understand materials. Teachers aren’t always there – even virtually – to answer questions or offer encouragement. We aren’t there to guide them when they veer off the beaten path. The success of distance learning depends on the relationships we’ve formed – not just with our students but with their entire families.
Thank You, Families, for Stepping up During Distance Learning!
So, this Teacher Appreciation Week, we teachers would like to thank the other people who have a hand in our students’ education. The moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and other caregivers are doing amazing – especially during this distance learning journey!
Thank you for all you do and thank you for all you are doing! These are unprecedented times and we teachers appreciate you being there for us and for your children.
How Can You Show Families You Appreciate Them?
The best way to show your students’ families that you appreciate all the work they’ve been putting in during at-home learning is to verbalize it to them. Depending on how many students, and therefore families, you have, there are many ways you can do this.
If you have a lot of families to thank, a simple way to show appreciation is with an email. Create a template thanking them for stepping up and taking on extra responsibility during this time and add a personalized sentence or two for each family. This method will let families know they’re appreciated without taking up too much time, allowing you to get to everyone. If an email doesn’t seem special enough, you can also consider an e-card. There are plenty of websites that have free thank you e-cards and templates for you to use.
If you have a smaller class or have some extra time, physical cards are a great way to thank families. You can usually find packs of blank thank you or greeting cards for relatively low prices. Write a short message to each family, add a few decorations and send off the cards. They’ll now have something they can hang on their fridge or set on the counter to remind them of your appreciation. Your students will also love seeing the card from you.
Read More Teacher Tips for Distance Learning:
- Teacher Tips for Distance Learning: Week 1
- Teacher Tips for Distance Learning: Week 2
- Teacher Tips for Distance Learning: Week 3
- Teacher Tips for Distance Learning: Week 4
- Teacher Tips for Distance Learning: Week 5
- Teacher Tips for Distance Learning: Week 6
By Cindy Price
5/4/2020
Cindy Price is a veteran teacher of 26 years. She has taught kindergarten for 19 years and first grade for seven years. She was born and raised in Massachusetts, but has taught in Florida, Georgia, and now Delaware.
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