Show Us Your Life-Teacher Gifts

I'm participating in Kelly's Korner "Show Us Your Life" this week and the theme is teacher gifts.

However, I am adding a different perspective than most probably are because I teach at a very low-economic school...in which teachers aren't normally given gifts due to the nature of the school's low-economic population.

With this in mind, I feel like sometimes gifts from these students and/or their parents are normally not tangible gifts. A gift from these children might be considered as a parent working with you to help the student be successful in behavior and/or academics. Maybe the sweet and thoughtful notes students write to you telling you you're the "best teacher they've ever had" even if you know they have said that to every teacher they've had. (And, you don't ask questions, you just take them at their word and it truly puts a smile on your face!) Their gift might be in the form of setting a good example in your classroom for other students to follow. Or the gift of a child when he asks you if he can be in charge of cleaning up the book corner every afternoon.

Sometimes, it's the little things that make the best gifts. Things that have no monetary value, but a greater reward for both the teacher and student. I have found that to be true in just 4 months of being a teacher. The parent who supports you and agrees to reinforce at home what's going on at school is the parent every teacher loves to have! I also love the sweet notes students write or the kind compliments they give.

I don't expect a great amount of gifts at the end of the year. And that's okay. I may not be told directly, in the form of gifts, that I was appreciated or whatever-but that doesn't mean the appreciation isn't there. It's up to me to see the appreciation in my student's faces when I make learning fun and meaningful for them-or when the knowledge finally "clicks" in their head! I truly believe that is the best teacher gift! Oh, and good FCAT scores are welcomed as gifts, too!

I wanted to share a gift I received recently from one of my volunteers. Seems backwards, right? Volunteer gives the teacher a gift? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Well, yes I suppose. But, I had no idea my volunteer was moving back up to Canada (she's a snowbird) so soon. Anyway, my volunteer was wonderful. She was a retired principal from a reading recovery school up in Canada. Hello wonderful woman with experience!!! I'll take all the advice you want to give!! My students loved her, and so did I. I learned just as much from her as my students did. Last week, I received a very kind note and gift from her. If I can get her address in Canada, I will also write her a thank-you note because I so appreciate what she did for my students and I in the time she was our volunteer. I just wish I knew she was leaving! She got me this pretty candle that is sitting on a bookshelf near my desk at school. It's nice to add things to my desk space that aren't papers, pens, pencils, and books! :) Here it is.