Teacher Appreciation Blog

A foundation of which Oscar winner Emma Thompson is president gives annually Teaching Awards in the English regions, Northern Ireland and in Wales too.

The aim of this awards is to recognize how important it is the work that teachers do every day at schools and provides the opportunity that students, parents and community celebrate with teachers their daily effort. It is more than only celebrate a teacher appreciation day.

The ceremony has been celebrating since 1998 and it is hosted by BBC presenters.

The process is simple: someone within the school community nominees the teacher and add a endorsement from the headmaster of the school. Next the nomination is judged by leading educationists and former Teaching award winners. Finally, winners receive their award in regional ceremonies held all over UK during summer term.

A weekend for winners,including a gala, is held in autumn. During this weekend is performed the final ceremony in, which national Teaching awards winners, are announced is filmed and broadcasting by the BBC turning that day in teacher’s day.

The appreciation that teachers can feel by being nominated is really important for them as Rhoda Edwards, a Teaching Awards winner, says : “Being Nominated for a Teaching Award was wonderful. The whole school felt valued and so proud. Pupils, teachers, parents, governors; we all felt that someone had made a special effort to turn around and say ‘well done’ what a fantastic feeling”

There are organizations created to support teachers and represent them in society so they can get civil and working right. Here you have most important ones in America

Association of American Educators (AAE): Largest United States teachers association. One of their challenges it is to work so the American teachers get the respect, recognition, appreciation and reward they deserve. AAE claims to “help lead a coalition of nearly 300,000 teachers across the country who have joined a non-union teacher association.”

American Federation of Teachers, AFT was founded in 1916 as a labor union and in 2008 represented more than 800,000 teachers and school related personnel. AFT as a partner in the “Campaign for Children’s Health Care” in a press release stated “It is a moral imperative to ensure that all children have adequate healthcare coverage.” Some famous teachers were AFT members as Albert Einstein or Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.

National Council for the Social Studies was founded in 1922 and it is devoted to support social studies educations. Its members are social studies teachers not only from USA but from 69 different countries.

The Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) is a non-profit, international organization. Founded in 1981, headquarters are located in Chesapeake, VA. Its members are all interested in information technology and education.

Music Teachers National Association (or MTNA). This organization with headquarters in Cincinnati has more than 22,000 members. It was founded in 1876 and nowadays it supports programs to assist music students and teachers.

While looking teacher appreciation gift ideas maybe you can contact any of these organizations and they will give you good advice.

The teacher’s day is celebrated on first tuesday of May within the teacher appreciation week but the exacts origins are still unknonw and the actual date has changed through the years. Even today Massachusets celebrates his own teachers day on first Sunday of June.

It is believed that a teacher from Arkansas contact politicians and educational leaders in 1944 trying to find support to recognized how important teachers work is. Finally in 1953 Eleanor Roosvelt persuaded the U.S. Congress to establish a National Teacher Appreciation Week.

National Education Association describes this date as “a day for honoring teachers and recognizing the lasting contributions they make to our lives”. Usually students honors their teacher with appreciation poems , crafts or small gifts but it is uncertain where this custome came from.