Teacher Appreciation Week is just around the bend—May 7th – 11th, to be precise!
We’ve have shared ideas here, here and here, but I recently came across something especially nifty at Excel Academy in Boston. Spearheaded by Aaron S., a senior member of the operations team, is their MONTHLY teacher appreciation calendar:
Aaron explained what led to the longer appreciation timeline and change of month from May to March:
For the past several years, we had a jam-packed staff appreciation week that left the admin team feeling exhausted. Teachers enjoyed the experience, but we also often ended up with too much leftover food from families. Based on that feedback, we decided to spread the same events across a month. Families brought in food on Tuesdays, which meant that leftovers could last the rest of the week. We also tapped some teachers to run things for each other, including a weekly Secret Sunshine gift exchange. We chose to do this in March because it’s always a hard time in New England; It’s still cold, there are no breaks, and the end of the year is not really in sight. May also tends to be a pretty crazy month, which makes it hard for the leadership team to do a big lift. Changing to March, teachers and administrators can really savor the appreciation!
And just for fun, here’s Aaron in barista mode at the coffee bar:
Interesting, right? I love the long timeline, the collaboration and the pure joy! How is your school celebrating teachers this May?