Today’s Lesson: How Do You Thank a Teacher?
This lesson explores how to thank a teacher for the incredible, fantastic, amazing, and thoughtful work they do each day to bring learning to life. While this lesson can be a tricky one — because how can you begin to thank a teacher for the tremendous amount of good they do? — it’s a challenge worth tackling this Teacher Appreciation Week. So, let’s begin.
Essential question
How do you thank a teacher?
Learning objectives
All of us will be able to:
Explain how to thank a teacher.
Evaluate the importance of a good teacher.
Analyze the ways in which teachers have impacted our lives.
Direct instruction
Thanking a teacher is no easy task. How do you fit all of your gratitude for the many roles a teacher plays into a single pithy note? How do you communicate the importance and impact of a teacher’s work without being generic or defaulting to cliché?
The article “How to write a thank you note” provides the following tips:
Reflect: How did (or does) the teacher’s action, kindness or compassion make you feel? What makes their behavior so special to you?
Open with a thankful statement: Begin your note by getting straight to the point with an introductory line such as “Thank you so much for…”; or, “I am grateful for…”; or, “I want to express my gratitude for…”
Be specific: What specific action(s) did the teacher you are thanking take, and how did it affect you? Did it brighten your mood? Make your day? Change the course of your life?
To encapsulate all the gratitude the folks here at Newsela have for teachers, we applied the tips above — and wrote a thank-you note of our own.
Independent practice: Our thank-you note to teachers
Dear Teachers,
We are grateful for your service to communities all over the country and the world. Your ingenuity and creativity bring learning to life every day, and we are in awe of your talent. In the past year, we’ve watched as you not only created engaging and relevant lessons to meet the needs of your students, but then went further, taking the time to share those lessons with us, and with your peers. You taught us about AI in the classroom, how to keep students engaged, how to make reading joyful, and so much more.
You’ve also fought hard to create the best-possible learning environments for your students, despite the many challenges we know you face today. Your work makes us feel hopeful for a future in which the kids you’ve taught so selflessly are leading the way.
We hope this Teacher Appreciation Week brings you some reprieve from the stress of your job, and that the gratitude of others, and those of us here at Newsela, reminds you that your work is seen, appreciated, and important.
Thank you again for wearing so many hats and doing it with style. Our own hats are tipped to you.
Sincerely,
The Newsela Team
