This is my sixth year teaching in a public H. S. and I have gotten a few gifts from kids, mostly girls. Honestly, I thought it was sweet at the time, but I certainly understand why kids don't give high school teachers gifts. I do have to say that I have gotten several Christmas cards from students with really nice messages in them, and I keep them in a box and they bring a smile to my face whenever I come across that box. I would highly recommend having your kids send middle school or high school teachers cards with a simple message. If they're too embarrassed, you can drop them in the main office and have them placed in teacher's boxes.
I would also recommend against just giving cards to the "favorite" teachers. This is a big problem with students who have a lot of teachers during the day. Usually teenagers' favorite teachers are the lazy teachers who just allow them to break the rules a lot and give away high grades for little effort. Upper-level teachers who really push kids academically and hold them accountable for their behavior are generally very unpopular and unappreciated. Please don't allow popularity contests to determine which teachers get an acknowledgement from your kids. Trust me, I've just returned to H.S. teaching after a few years away, and I forgot how unappreciated you feel. Teenagers whine about every assignment, gripe if you make them follow the rules, groan if you won't have a party or let them sleep, like so-and-so teacher down the hall who always shows movies and never makes them read. A little thing like a Christmas card can really make a difference for an exhausted middle or high school teacher.
...but we just can't give gifts to alll....the class mom still collected for a class gift and we contributed to that though......
They deserve it. He goes to middle school next year and I imagine it will be similar. As long as we have teachers who are giving 110%, I'll be giving gifts.
Girls may be able to get away with it longer, but my boys would rather die a slow death than bring a teacher a gift! As a teacher myself, I would so appreciate a letter that tells me how I'm doing. We so often don't hear parents' thoughts about our efforts. Email or write if you'd like to let them know they are appreciated and let his or her principal know too!
