Teachers' Appreciation Week

Teacher Appreciation Week may have happened a few weeks ago, but teachers deserve appreciation year-round. Keeping track of participation while teaching, dealing with ever-present Adobe Connect issues students face, managing accommodations, grading assignments, responding quickly to emails, holding office hours, and hearing excuses when students “forget to do their reading” is definitely not easy.

As finals wind down and summer break approaches, it's worth taking a moment to reflect on how much your teachers have contributed to your year. Whether they stayed available during office hours, helped make the material feel more manageable, or simply helped you understand the material until you mastered it, it is necessary to thank them for everything that they do.

Teaching is also an exercise in patience. Every class has students at different levels, with different learning styles, different circumstances, and different needs, and a good teacher finds a way to reach all of them. They rework explanations, they adjust, they try again. However, most students never see that process, but they benefit from it every time something finally makes sense.

While we may not be handing teachers apples or classroom supplies through a computer screen, even a small thank-you message can bring a smile to their faces and remind them that their hard work paid off, especially near the end of a long school year. Remember, while we take one exam per class, teachers are grading dozens of them and still trying to stay fair and consistent through all of it.

As the school year wraps up, let your teacher know what you learned from them this year. It doesn't have to be elaborate, just a short, honest message before you log off for the summer. A lot goes into teaching, and knowing it helped even one student makes it worth it. You might be one of the many students they taught this year, but a genuine note stands out and stays with someone long after the grades are submitted and the year is officially closed.