Hey! Reader!

How are all my Perennial Plus signs doing this last day of April? (whoa, right?)

Since next week is the first full week of May that means it's Teacher Appreciation Week.

(If you're a school leader and this just gave you a heart attack, I'm so sorry. I have a Teacher Appreciation Week Planning Guide here you can use that I promise you can work even as last minute as Sunday or Monday--DNR, but I've been in your shoes and get it!)

I feel like 👵🏻 saying this, but back when I first started celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week, it was in early Internet days when websites were fixed--

(to the point where I yelled at a friend when he suggested one day you may be able to see movie times on websites instead of calling MovieFone or looking in the newsletter, so a Futurist I am not).

My point is--in those days, there just weren't like 10 gazillion posts with ornate displays of Teacher Appreciation Week balloon arches or cupcake towers floating around.

I remember receiving some nice notes from my students, and donuts in the break room on Friday---all of which I was quite content with.

Now fast forward years later to 2014, the first spring the school I founded was open, and I realized, oh about 48 hours before it started--that Teacher Appreciation Week was coming.

I wanted to make it special--our teachers were founders, working their tails off and I was genuinely grateful for what they did each day--

and while I would have loved to be the person who could create beautiful aesthetically pleasing ways to appreciate my teachers in a way that would work both IRL and on the interwebs--I am not that person. Those are not my gifts--and especially not in the frenetic vibes of founding and launching a school Year 1.

So, we came up with some ideas (many of which are in the Teacher Appreciation Week Planning Guide here )--

with the appreciation sprinkled through the week but heaviest on Friday (to give us a wee bit more time to plan and execute since this snuck up on us).

I watched nervously through the week as teachers showed each other their phones on the displays that bigger networks created--

or talked about the masseuse their roommate's school brought in--

and nervously wondered whether our school wide sparkling apple cider toast at lunch on Friday would be as good as I hoped it could be.

... and a few days later, as I watched several of my teachers wipe away tears as their 4th and 5th grade students bravely stepped up to the mic in front of our entire school community--

I knew that while the decor was subpar and the cafetorium not the most glamorous-

the work we had done to make sure teachers could hear directly from the people they did this all for, in a sincere, heartfelt and public way--meant the most of all.

Let this be the reminder you may need to hear, whether about Teacher Appreciation Week or anything else--

At the end of the day, it's about making people feel appreciated.

It's not about the gift cards to local steakhouses (although those are great if you can get them donated!) or the Pinterest worthy bulletin board an adult creates--

it's about the way that sincere, heartfelt messages of appreciation can be shared between humans.

This can get lost in the hype of what Teacher Appreciation Week is, but it's the most important thing of all.

If you needed this message, I'm glad to remind you--

and if you already knew this, I'm happy to co-sign on it.

It's not always easy making people feel appreciated, but it's always worth it.

Take care,

Beth

ps. You know I'm always about doing a little something for the leaders too, so check out the upcoming free 30 minute Leadership Lift sessions here coming up next week: on Wednesday we'll talk about how Clear Leaders Get Results and on May 15 From Stretched Thin to Strategic: How to Lead at the Level Your Role Requires.

pps. If you know a leader who could use help with Teacher Appreciation week, forward them thisso they can check out the Planning Guide here!