![]() ![]() I collected suggestions from teachers across the country, and I mined the expertise of Wirecutter staffers. To compile this list, I drew on my own years of experience teaching at both public and private schools. “It always made me feel appreciated to get little gift cards from students, and I never thought of it as ‘just’ $5.” But small, simple gifts can feel special too: “As a high school teacher, a $5 gift card to somewhere like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts (or the local equivalent) is awesome,” said Mary Beth Foster, of Mint Hill, North Carolina. Another fellow teacher will never forget the time his class pooled their money to purchase him a wheelbarrow. One colleague of mine still uses a pair of Japanese garden shears that a family gave him more than 20 years ago. That said, we aren’t immune to the power of a great gift, either. ![]() Most teachers I know would be honored to receive nothing more than a heartfelt, handwritten thank-you note. Teachers often keep handmade cards and appreciative letters from students-sometimes for decades-and turn to them when the profession gets rough, like during the past few years. It was a shrink-wrapped, glitter-sprinkled plastic nativity scene that a seventh-grader had picked out for me himself at a dollar store. To ME, that's what makes a memorable teacher and that's what I was fortunate enough to have with Vickie Wittkop from New Philadelphia High School back in New Philadelphia, Ohio.I still remember the first gift I received as a teacher, 20 years ago. Her lessons expanded on what we could expect outside of the classroom and she helped equip me with the tools I needed to succeed beyond high school and eventually in a career where I talk for a living. She gave us lessons in English, but her lesson plans went beyond just the subject that she taught. I think it's safe to speak for my other classmates when I say this, but she made us WANT to do well and we never wanted to disappoint her because we loved and appreciated her so much. But there was so much more to her class than just learning English and much of the "boringness" that usually came with English class. ![]() In fact, she encouraged us to have fun, all while teaching English. We had our fun and she let us be ourselves. ![]() What I mean by that is we had our fun, but at the end of the day, we all knew we had work to do and if it didn't get done, we would be held accountable. I vividly remember thinking while I was in her class every day that she treated us like adults. She had a way of cutting through and getting to know students as individuals and made learning fun. Wittkop had a knack for reaching students in different ways because let's face it, we're all different and we all learn in different ways. I'll argue until the end that THAT is more important than most things from a textbook. Wittkop not only helped us succeed in the classroom but outside of the classroom as well. She was a teacher in the fullest sense of the word because she was real, she was genuine, and she was honest. Wittkop wasn't just a teacher that told us to open up our books to page 27 and just teach from the textbook. My favorite teacher of all time was a lady by the name of Vickie Wittkop, who was my senior year English teacher. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |