Send school teacher a thank-you note

“Thank you very much for teaching my (son, daughter) this school year!”

Simple, direct, inclusive enough; now send this note as the final days of another academic term concludes.

What should parents be thankful for about their children’s teachers? Consider this (incomplete) list:

For completing a rigorous four years of preparation for teaching competency;

For continuing a variety of inservice and graduate school opportunities designed to strengthen your knowledge base and skills;

For finding supplementary materials that make the basic curriculum more meaningful, often at your personal expense;

For taking time to create useful communications to strengthen the home-school partnership, including being willing to reply to electronic messages from every home;

For being sensitively aware of each student’s health status to include moods and attitudes that impact the learning environment for the whole class;

For taking advantage of curriculum and instruction options available within the school district that embellish your offerings;

For tirelessly being patient;

For simply being present as the primary advocate for your students, in and outside the classroom;

For creatively integrating special-needs students in a fashion that benefits all members of the class;

For advantaging the talents of special district and building support personnel;

For professionally dealing with personal criticism or unfounded critiques of the profession;

For publicly expressing pride in the teaching profession, as it contributes to the general welfare of our culture.

Surely, a simple “thank you” is not too much to suggest.

This story was originally published May 7, 2017 at 5:03 AM with the headline "Send school teacher a thank-you note."