It's once again teacher appreciation week. That's a week late in the semester ostensibly celebrating our teachers. Over the years there have been a few highlight moments for me during these teacher appreciation weeks but overall, I can't say I've been a fan of the "event."

Why not?

Because it's usually made up, superficial, and frequently patronizing.

Some stores offer discounts. Staples and Office Depot offering essentially discounts on supplies for the classroom that teachers shouldn't have to purchase in the first place.

Other places offer a free beverage or discounts on whatever their products were but hey, if teachers were paid reasonably to begin with they wouldn't need these discounts.

Basically, my problem is that teachers are not generally appreciated year round and they should be. Sure, it's nice to have a "special day" or week but when you spend all year dumping on, underpaying, and overworking teachers it rings hollow.

On the flip side, there have been some teacher appreciation week highlights.

The biggest highlight, although, to be honest, it's just as special when it happens at random times over the years has been when a former student whom I haven't been in contact with reaches out with a random thank you. It's usually not public and usually a short email or similar but that's pretty cool and pretty special. Sometimes the fact that it's teacher appreciation week spurs a student to reconnect so that's cool.

The other was one particular appreciation day gift. At Stuy, over the years, the principal and/or department chairs have frequently given small gifts to their staffs. They're usually small and frequently useful like my math department umbrella but there was one year when the gift stood out.

I forget the year but Jinx Perullo was the principal. Instead of the usual small gift, she got business cards for every staff member. We all had email accounts at stuy.edu thanks to me and my student sysadmins so every card had the teachers name, department, and stuy.edu email. I had an office and a phone but I don't know what was on the cards in terms of phone numbers for other teachers.

I thought it was a great little gift. As the profession has been under attack since before I joined and teachers were always treated as less than professional this was more than a gift. It was a sign of respect. Most teachers didn't really have many uses for business cards but it made an impact.

So, that's my take on teacher appreciation week. I'd be fine without the week, better to treat teachers better year round.