Any teacher loves to get a gift—any gift—from a student.  It makes them feel appreciated and respected (an increasingly rare feeling for today’s public school teachers!).  That being said, every teacher has had a few “memorable” gifts slide across their desk.  The following post, all in good fun, hopefully will help parents give their teacher a gift that lands well.

NEVER give a teacher:

1. School supplies.  Would you give your Doctor a stethoscope or your mechanic a set of wrenches? Probably not.  Similarly, a box of dry erase markers, stickers, or masking tape isn’t going to bring a sense of warm holiday cheer to your child’s teacher.  Sure they need school supplies, and it would be a great idea to send an email anytime during the year that says something like:  “I’d love to help.  What supplies can I buy for your classroom?”  However, a set of spiral notebooks and markers as a gift for a teacher will go over about as well as that time you bought your spouse a vacuum cleaner.

2.  Coffee mug.  Trust us, your child’s teachers had their caffeine addiction charted out long before your son or daughter was placed on their roster.  Yet, without fail, teachers get several new coffee mugs every holiday season.  Put the Santa mug down and walk away.

3.  A family photo.  On occasions, parents include a family photo with their teacher’s holiday card. Don’t get us wrong.  We love having Johnny and Suzy in our class, but that doesn’t mean we want their face hanging on our fridge at home. What if you attended a parent conference and your child’s teacher had a photo of you and your family hanging on the wall, or better yet, framed on their desk?  Be pretty weird wouldn’t it?  So what are we supposed to do with that picture exactly?

4. One size does not fit all. A flower covered Thirty-one lunch tote would be a great gift for a twenty-five year old female kindergarten teacher, but probably would not work for a gym teaching High School football coach.  What about a king size Reese’s Cup to your peanut-butter allergic teacher?  Know your teachers’ personalities (or at least, their gender!) well enough to give something suitable to them.

5. Nothing. Unless your child’s teacher is the Grinch, they deserve some token of appreciation.  Heck, even if they are the Grinch, your gift might make their heart GROW THREE SIZES ON THAT DAY!  Regardless, we guarantee that your child’s teachers have put up with a lot of stress throughout the year, and maybe, just maybe some of that stress is because of your little Cindy Lou. Let them know that you appreciate their efforts and make sure they receive something from your child besides that stomach bug you thought wasn’t contagious!

Five great gift ideas for teachers

1.  The greatest gift you can give teachers is sincere gratitude.  A handwritten note or letter from your son or daughter will lift a teacher up more than you can imagine.  Education is a hard profession, and teachers are used to hearing a lot more negative than positive.  It would be a tremendous gift to reverse that trend.  While younger kids tend to love doing things like this, we know:  Gratitude comes as natural to teenagers as breathing underwater.  Push through.  Strive to squeeze some positive feedback out to give to their teachers.  Best of all…this gift is free.

2.  Homemade anything.  Teachers, like anyone, love to put on a few holiday pounds that we have to new year’s resolution away come January.  Got an old family recipe? Some holiday treats are a fun way to send your teacher a sugary, chocolatey “Thank You.” You can also give Joke Gifts to make your teacher laugh.

3.  Gift cards.  It’s no secret that teachers aren’t exactly bringing home the bacon.  A simple, but thoughtful way to thank your teachers is to buy them a gift card for a nice meal out or a couple movie tickets, etc.  A date night with their spouse, or a fun evening on the town with their family will be a well received surprise this holiday season.

4.  Did we say gift cards?  Just to be sure, re-read item #3.

5.  The Ultimate Survival Guide For Teachers.  You knew this was coming!  We couldn’t help ourselves. Seriously though, many parents have given our book as a gift to teachers.  It will give them a much needed laugh this holiday season, and help re-ignite their passion in the classroom.

I AM A TEACHER!

I am a teacher.

Despite what the world thinks of me,

When it envies my days off, and laughs at my salary.

I work from 8-3:30, home early every night,

One long vacation in the summer…hmmph,…Yeah right

But I am a teacher.

And even though I may receive little respect,

It is my students that matter to me, and it is on that which I reflect.

Yes there have been that I have barely made it from week to week,

And there have been times that I have stood before my students too exhausted to speak,

But I do, because I am a teacher.

You know some say that “those who can’t…teach”,

Well I say that very few “Can Teach”,

Very few can put on an encouraging smile even when they are tired,

Very few have the ability to motivate and inspire,

To challenge every child regardless of the strength of the their mind,

To make them grow as a student and feel strong inside,

Who else can make a child feel pride,

When their family at home doesn’t even care if they’re alive?

Well, I CAN!

Because, I am a teacher!

I am part of an elite group that builds dreams,

Coaches young ones to swim upstream

And teaches outcasts to work in a team,

I build character and push them beyond their limits,

But much of what they learn from me CAN NOT BE MEASURED ON A TEST!

I AM A TEACHER!

And I was called to what I do,

And regardless of all the latest and greatest strategies that are new,

It is ultimately up to me to hold true,

To look beyond the stress and deep into their eyes,

Down into their hearts where the future lies

And never forget that it is because of this beautiful creature

That I am changing the world……

I am a teacher.

1. You have to manage your class before you can teach your class.  Great lessons don’t “manage themselves.”  You may have a lot of fun ideas for your classroom…but so do your students!  Manage your class so that you can teach your students.

2. Laugh…everyday.  You work with kids so don’t forget to act like one every once in a while.  Teaching is stressful, and a good sense of humor is a crucial part of surviving the stress.  Besides, most stressful moments eventually become humorous memories!  Don’t wait until tomorrow to smile.  Learn to find the humor in the headaches today.  You and your students will be better for it.

3. Time management is a must.  Juggling lesson plans, bus duty, curriculum, parent phone calls, an eleven minute lunch, papers to grade, emails, and committee meetings is a right of passage for all teachers.  However, if you prioritize your time, strive for efficiency and effectiveness, collaborate, and give more quality work instead quantity, time becomes your friend.  Do the most important things first, and then balance the rest as best you can.

4. Don’t be afraid to take calculated risks.  Political correctness is important in today’s educational climate, but some teachers play it so safe that they end up having less personality than a reem of paper.  Have the courage to risk being memorable—risk making a difference.  (howtosurviveteaching.com is not liable for any loss of employment due to following this advice

5. Don’t be a teacher whose students think you sleep at school!  Making and honoring boundaries between work and life is a critical.  Having a life outside of your lessons will add life to your lessons.  Learn how to unplug, unwind, and protect your personal life from that stack of papers. If you face any legal challenges concerning work-life balance or workplace incidents, a personal injury lawyer can offer specialized legal assistance.

6.  It’s not “winging it” if no one finds out! Everyone is unprepared from time to time (when technology crashes, the copy machines are down, etc.), but the pros learn how to shoot from the hip without their students catching on.  After all, your class thinking you don’t have a plan is like blood in the water.  So act like you have one…even if you don’t.

7. Expect change.  Before you finish reading this post, a new educational fad will hit the market!  Politicians and educational leaders are idealistic. You, on the other hand, are forced to be realistic.  It isn’t easy to stand at the intersection of rhetoric and reality, but fortunately, good teaching never goes out of style.  If you teach well, you can make trends fit your classroom rather than making your classroom fit trends.

8. Connect with your students before they disconnect from you.  No, your students don’t have to like you or your class…but everything else is so much easier if they do!  Strive to make meaningful connections and maintain positive relationships with your students, and you will find your job gets easier and easier.

9. Encourage.  Chances are you signed up to become a teacher in hopes of making a difference in the lives of children.  Meaningful encouragement creates courage in your students and might just be the most powerful tool you have to shape their future.

10. You will burn out sooner or later.  Know that this is normal, but know how to deal with it.  Learn how to pace yourself, pursue personal interests (outside of teaching), get rest, and get a life.  Be willing to make changes to find a grade level, subject area, and school culture that best fit you as a teacher.  It’s okay to get down at times in your career, but it’s not okay to stay down.

The best news of all is that if you are in it for the right reasons, strive to be better on a daily basis, and are realistic with your expectations, teaching gets easier over time (we promise!). But when you find it doesn’t, look over our site for some more useful tips, hilarious and inspirational videos, and a few much needed laughs! Columbia, SC personal injury lawyers can also provide guidance if you ever encounter legal issues related to workplace safety and injuries in the education sector.

BIG NEWS!

Scotty has the honor of speaking at this years’ “Reach Them to Teach Them” event on November 5th in Knoxville, Tennessee.  Scotty will be performing his inspirational poem, “I am a teacher” found in the final chapter of our book.  If you are in the area, the tickets are selling out fast!

Reach Them to Teach Them is an organization designed to inspire and motivate adults who work with children.  The organization has been inspiring teachers since 2006.

This year’s theme is “Field of Dreams.”

TEN THINGS TEACHERS WISHED EVERY PARENT KNEW

 10. T.M.I. (Too Much Information).  In many situations, insight into your student’s home life can help us teachers to better understand your child.  Please feel free to disperse any information that will help us connect the dots in your son or daughter’s classroom experience.  That being said, teachers are often the recipients of way too much personal information!  Before you dive into a discussion about your ex-husband, your mother in law, your boss, your landlord, or your fungal infection, ask yourself:  “Is this really something I need to be telling my child’s teacher?”

9. No. This is not a good time for a conference.  Despite what many students believe, teachers do go out in public, and when we do, we too often experience what we like to call “impromptu parent conferences.”  Whether it is grabbing a gallon of milk at the grocery store, catching a movie on Friday night, or attending a local sporting event, teachers inevitably will run into parents.  We do not want to talk about Johnny or Jennifer while we are sitting down to a romantic dinner out with our spouse or enjoying some other aspect of our personal life (nor do we have their classroom performance memorized and ready to discuss at a moment’s notice!).  If you were out with your family, spouse, or friends and bumped into a co-worker, would you want to discuss business?  We think not.  Schedule a parent conference.

8. Whose homework is it anyway?  You aren’t fooling a soul.  Don’t do your child’s work.  We see thousands of examples grade-level student work, and can spot a parent’s work from a mile away!  We know you want your child to makes A’s.  Every parent does.  But let them make the grade, not you.

7. Give a good gift!  Teaching is a tough job, and a small gift at appropriate times is a good way to show your gratitude.  A meaningful gift from a student or parent will give any teacher a boost.  First off, no school supplies!  Would you give your Doctor a stethoscope or your mechanic a set of wrenches?  Probably not.  Things like a gift card for a meal out, homemade goodies, or a note from your child are great gift ideas.  Teachers hang onto a hand written note, but most of the countless coffee mugs end up either in a thrift store or collecting dust in the far reaches of our kitchen cabinets.

6. I have way more kids than you.  We truly care about your child and genuinely want to see them succeed, but we didn’t change their diapers, see their first steps, or hear their first words.  Your kids mean the world to you (and they should), but please remember that we have balance your child’s needs with every other student.  Don’t get us wrong, we will do everything we can to help your child grow…along with all the other people’s kids we have in our classroom (teachers in higher grades often have 100-200 students).

5. Talk to me first.  If an issue does arise, please don’t immediately contact the principal, the superintendent, school board members, the newspaper, or your local congressmen. Give us teachers the benefit of the doubt and allow us the opportunity to explain the situation.  Most “problems” with teachers have more to do with misinformation than misconduct.  Maybe, just maybe, your sweet little angel has stretched the truth to keep out of trouble.  A very wise teacher once said to parents: “If you don’t believe everything they say about me, I won’t believe everything they say about you.”

4. On the road again?  You know when you are heading to the beach or when Susie’s next orthodontist appointment is…we don’t.  Be proactive and keep your child ahead instead of letting them fall behind.  Send an email, gather up assignments, and make the absence much smoother on your child’s academic progress.  After all, they usually need something to do on that long car ride!  If it is an unexpected absence, utilize school procedures concerning missing work (teacher websites, etc.).  Many teachers spend a great deal of time placing assignments online, only to have parents and students fail to access them.

3. Let them struggle.  This is something only a parent can understand—it is so hard to see our children struggle.  We want them to easily and effortlessly coast from success to success.  But we all know this isn’t reality.  Sometimes good parenting means stepping back and letting your child struggle to succeed (especially as they get older).  Let them learn a few lessons the hard way.  When they are heading off to college and out into the real world, you will be glad that you did.

2. I’m a teacher not a magician.  We don’t have miraculous cures for laziness, bad attitudes, misbehavior, or immaturity (if we did, we’d be millionaire beach bums not teachers!).  It’s our job to hold your child accountable at school, but it is your job to hold them accountable at home.  Most patterns in a child’s life (good and bad) are a result of their home situation so take ownership of your responsibilities as a parent.  If you don’t do your job, it’s a whole lot harder for us to do ours.  At the end of the day, they are your child, and our student.  In other words, when they are twenty-something and can’t seem to hold a job, they will be moving into your basement not ours so you need to do your best to steer them towards success!

1. Trust me, I’m a teacher.  The hardest thing on a teacher is a parent that thinks they know how to teach (unless, of course, that parent is actually a teacher!).  I heard a parent once explain to a teacher that they knew everything there was to know about teaching because they had taught a few Sunday school classes!  Until you have sat down with a full class load of kids from all walks of life, with high-aiming curriculum to teach, every misbehavior imaginable to manage, and a standardized test on one morning one school day to judge your entire competency as a teacher, trust that your teachers know more about teaching than you do.  I know a teacher assistant that admitted:  “I used to be really critical of my kids’ teachers.  Then I got a job as a teacher assistant, and I can’t believe what you all do day in and day out.”

For more education tips go to www.howtosurviveteaching.com

TOP TEN LIST FOR TEACHERS STARTING THE SCHOOL YEAR

- Make a great first impression.  Kids decide pretty quickly whether or not they like you as a teacher, and whether or not they have to actually do what you say.  Try really hard to keep the balance of being fun, positive, and nice (make them like you), while at the same time keeping a tight grip on classroom procedures (make them respect you).

- Don’t drink too much.……..water.  We know your throat hurts, but it takes time for your bladder to get re-acclimated to the bell schedule!

- Make a seating chart and write it in PENCIL (it will change thirty seven times). Assigning seats makes taking role, learning names, and minimizing disruptions ten times easier.

- Have a “get to know you” ice-breaker in your back pocket in case you have extra time (it will look like you planned it all along if you need to use it!).  Something that is fun and actually helps you get to know your students.

- Get enough sleep.  Sorry, summer is over.  Go to bed at a decent hour.

- Make a “to do list” and prioritize. The beginning of school is always overwhelming. Do first what needs to be done first.  Take it one day at a time the first couple weeks of school.

- Get your copies made early if you can. Copiers have long lines at the outset of the school year and often fail when you need them most!  Also, anticipate more students than your roster indicates!

- Relax.  Whatever new and dynamic educational strategy is being implemented this year is important, but not crucial the first week. Relax and ease into it.

- Breathe. Be as prepared as possible, but realize that things will go awry in some manner or another. It is okay.  You will weather the storm.

- Go home and talk with adults as much as possible!  Sure, everyone stays later at the beginning of a school year, but make sure you have some time to unwind in the evenings.

Get that session off to the right start!

Thanks Phil!

• How do you survive being an elementary teacher? 
• How do you survive being a middle school teacher? 
• How do you survive being a high school teacher?
• How do you survive teaching in a public school?!?!

We all thought we would be incredible, inspirational, and all around awesome teachers…and then we got a classroom!!  When the apple hit the fan, we became a lot less certain!  Luckily, our journey into the vast and wild jungles of American education isn’t hopeless.  There are still ways to survive, better yet, ways to thrive in modern education…and all this without giving up every square inch of your personal life.

Rob and Scotty’s book, The Ultimate Survival Guide For Teachers, is the realistic, pragmatic solution that you have been looking for ever since you lost your temper in your classroom for the first time.  Full of hilarious stories, real experiences, and practical solutions, you will find yourself challenged to make the most of your classroom, but in a way that seems reachable (rather than chasing idealistic rhetoric from people who have never taught a day in their life!).  Pick up a copy today (print) (ebook) and reclaim the reasons you signed up to be a teacher in the first place.  Your students will thank you!