Yes­ter­day was Teacher Appre­ci­a­tion Day and if you’re an admin­is­tra­tor, hope­fully you have already taken the time to thank your teach­ers for all of the hard work that they do for stu­dents.  I’d also hope that you don’t save those thank-yous for Teacher’s Appre­ci­a­tion Day only.  In the past three years, I’ve had the oppor­tu­nity to meet out­stand­ing teach­ers from around the coun­try.  Prior to that, I was for­tu­nate to learn with many for­ward think­ing col­leagues.   A good ques­tion to con­sider is how to sup­port our best teach­ers with more than a thank-you or cheap trin­ket once a year.  The ideas that I’ve listed below are bor­rowed from schools and edu­ca­tors across the coun­try.  Feel free to leave a com­ment with addi­tional ideas.  I’ve split my list into two cat­e­gories.  The first group of sug­ges­tions is for admin­is­tra­tors, and the sec­ond cat­e­gory is for those of you who are teach­ers look­ing for bet­ter sup­port systems.

Admin­is­tra­tors:

• Pro­vide your best teach­ers with RESOURCES because they can serve as mod­els for other teach­ers.  Resources include not only things, but also time!
• Find ways to help those teach­ers con­tinue to grow.  Send them to con­fer­ences and let them visit other schools.
• Be cre­ative and reward them for their hard work.

Teach­ers:

• Try to develop net­works that will help you con­tinue to grow.  Your net­work may include other teach­ers in the school, but should also include other exem­plary edu­ca­tors from around the globe.  Use social media to con­nect with others.
• If your admin­is­tra­tion isn’t pro­vid­ing you with resources, think cre­atively.  Apply for grants, or go to your PTO if pos­si­ble.  Try to make part­ner­ships with local busi­nesses that are friends of edu­ca­tion. Even a non-supportive admin­is­tra­tion is unlikely to turn down free money or tools.
• Toot your own horn!  Gen­er­ally, most edu­ca­tors are not good at this.  How­ever, if you want your com­mu­nity to sup­port your work, you should show them all of the great things you are doing.

I hope that yes­ter­day was a great day for all of you. More impor­tantly, I hope that each of you have the sup­port sys­tems that allow you to be suc­cess­ful in your school each and every day.

Nick Sauers