Teacher Appreciation.

[rivka]

It turns out that yesterday was Teacher Appreciation Sunday. I had no idea - it's possible that I was informed, but forgot. I settled Alex in the nursery and then walked into the sanctuary just moments before the RE Director announced that she was going to call the teachers up, class by class.

I sort of remember last year's Teacher Appreciation, which happened after the previous, quarter-time RE director had quit and the RE committee had imploded, all at the same time. It was completely half-assed; they had the kids sitting up at the front of the church and led them in a sing-song chorus of "Thank you, Miss Soandso" as each teacher came up to get a certificate or something. I doubt that many of the teachers felt particularly appreciated.

This year was very different. As each of us came up to the chancel, one of the kids handed us a surprisingly attractive tissue-paper-and-pipe-cleaner flower that the older kids had made. Becky, our RE director, gave us a little book she had made, and the president of the congregation gave us an extremely snazzy Certificate of Appreciation from the Board of Trustees. We stayed up there until all of the teachers had been called, and then the congregation gave us a hearty round of applause.

The books that Becky made... oh my gosh. They were little 4x6" photo albums. The cover said "Thank you, Rebecca, for teaching our preschool class!" and was "signed" with the names of the ten kids who were the core of our class. Inside were photos of most of the kids, a couple of pictures that I'd taken of our group with our "class tree," and - this was the coolest - shrunk-down versions of some of the artwork we made this year. I guess she either reduced them on a color copier, or scanned them, shrunk them down, and printed them. And she had to have snuck into our classroom during the week, borrowed the artwork and the class tree photos, and then put them back exactly where they were. Interspersed with the class-specific pictures were pictures she'd taken of the Tiffany stained glass windows in the sanctuary, with quotes about education superimposed on them.

This book was the most gorgeous thing. I cried. I saw teachers crying all around me. It's something I'll want to keep for always. And you bet I feel completely appreciated, and recognized, and honored as a teacher. If I had been on the fence about signing up for another year? This would totally have sold me.

Becky is an amazing person. I hope we can keep her at our church forever.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

That's great.

[ckd]

What a lovely thing for them to do.

Becky is an amazing person. I hope we can keep her at our church forever.

I'm guessing that she'd say the same about you.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

That is lovely. I'm very glad that you have a Becky at your church.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

We got $25 gift cards at a local bookstore. Yours was more personalized, but, I have to admit, $25 at a local bookstore also makes me feel pretty appriciated, myself.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Hee! Agreed. But there's just no money in our RE budget for something like that. $25 x 15 teachers = half our teacher training budget for next year, or more than half of the DRE's professional expenses budget.

Aren't you paid to teach, too? Or am I remembering wrong?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yup. $100/week. It's more than I want to be paid, but they give me a raise every year.

We don't have anywhere near fifteen teachers, though -- we had five teachers this year. Next year, I think we're going to have, like, seven. We really would love to have enough students to need fifteen teachers, although I don't think the building is large enough for that. Still, a lot of kids in the community go to the weekly afterschool program (not run by our shul, and kids from all different shuls go), instead of our Hebrew school.

Which is, frankly, better. We teach three hours a week; they teach three hours a day. We're real happy when kids decide to go to Kesher instead of us. And they love it -- the director of Kesher is Rafi, the guy who was my boss at the Hebrew school two years ago, and I just love him to pieces, and so do all the kids.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

We really are talking about completely different animals. We teach for 1 to 1.25 hours a week, during the worship service. We have three teachers per class - we rotate so that, each week, two teachers are in the classroom and one is able to attend the service. So 15 teachers = 5 classes: preschool, K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and youth group. We have about 40-50 kids in all.

And our whole model of religious education is different. We don't have a body of specific, skilled knowledge that we're trying to impart - we're more about providing experiences that will facilitate the development of particular emotions and values. So it makes sense that we can get by on a much less professional model, and that you guys really can't.

[going-not-gone.livejournal.com]

Appreciation is important, and when it's done well, it's a wonderful thing. I'm so glad you got the respect your work deserves in such a tangible form.

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

That's so sweet!

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Becky really sounds like such a gift for you guys.

-J

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Very cool!