I have been teaching over twenty years. This has never happened.
Never. Ever.
And if it never happens again, this one time will be with me for always.
Waiting on my front porch when I arrived home from school recently was a ProFlowers box. I opened it to find a beautiful arrangement of lilies and stargazers on the verge of blossoming and this note:
“Mrs. Allan,
This is a thank you from a former student. You have changed my life and I will never forget it. Thank you for giving me confidence and the most inspiring English lessons. You are an amazing woman, and I hope the best for you and your family. I hope to see many more Allan books for me to keep reading. THANK YOU!
From: One of the many lives you changed.
If you’re the person who sent these, I hope you read this or find your way here from Facebook or Twitter. Not that you expected gratitude or recognition; otherwise, you would have signed your name. That you didn’t makes this act of kindness all the more remarkable and powerful. Thank you. God bless you.
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In the process of writing her second book for Simon & Schuster,Stacy DeBroff interviewed over 250 teachers. One of the interview topics concerned the most meaningful moments they had experienced in their careers, and the majority of teachers expressed that feeling appreciated meant more than any tangible gift they could have received.
My experience truly reflects what Stacy found in her interviews because even though I received a tangible gift of flowers, the truth is the note itself was gift enough.
Sometimes, parents and students aren’t sure how to convey their appreciation or, perhaps, like my student, would prefer to do so anonymously. Bing is encouraging students and parents to recognize teachers who have made a difference in their lives through a new philanthropic campaign focused on supporting kids’ education. Bing has committed to a gift of up to $500,000 and teamed up with DonorsChoose.org to provide both kids and adults with a way to express their thanks to a teacher and help another teacher or school in the process.
Visit www.bing.com/education to post a comment or share a story about a teacher who made a difference in your life (or the life of your child), and Bing will provide you with a $5 donation to DonorsChoose.org, which can be applied toward any classroom project of your choice. I’ve posted a project on DonorsChoose for our ONE SCHOOL, ONE BOOK literacy initiative next year.
Bing’s Teacher Appreciation Website helps teachers help themsel
ves. Here’s how it works: a teacher can log onto the DonorsChoose.org website to start a “classroom project” or donation request. Parents and students can then visit the Bing Teacher Appreciation site to leave a comment [up to 5 per visitor] about a teacher who has made a difference in their life, enabling them to receive a $5 giving code to donorschoose.org [one per comment]. Parents and students can then apply the $5 giving code to the “classroom project” of their choice.
One of my daughters, Sarah, who had Down’s Syndrome, was blessed to have a teacher, Mrs. Hebert, whose enthusiasm and passion were gifts to her students and to us as parents.She never patronized her students; in fact, she challenged them to become productive and engaging members of society. I’ll always appreciate her for that, and Bing is giving me a way to recognize her.
Each visitor can leave up to 5 comments, resulting in a total donation of $25. At the end of June, Bing will aggregate the comments and share them with each teacher in the form of a congratulations letter.
Go ahead. Make a teacher’s day!
“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Bing and a $100 DonoseChoose.org giving code to facilitate my review. Mom Central also sent me a thank-you gift certificate.”
