What Appreciation Looks Like (After the Balloons Deflate).

Hey there! 👋🏼

Let’s have a real conversation today.

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week.
Cue the coffee carts. The gift cards. The themed lunches with punny signs.
(“Nacho Average Teacher,” anyone?)

Now don’t get me wrong—teachers deserve every bit of recognition.
But let’s be clear:

Teacher appreciation is not a one-week PR campaign.
It’s not a catered queso and a Starbucks raffle.

It’s a leadership mindset.
A culture commitment.
A daily decision to make teaching sustainable and respected—not just celebrated with cookies in the lounge.

So, if we’re serious about appreciating teachers, here’s what that actually looks like.

What Teachers Really Want From Leaders

They won’t say it out loud—not this week. They’ll smile. They’ll say thank you.
But here’s what they’re really thinking:

🔥 Don’t just say I matter. Show me.
Don’t give me a tote bag while piling on five more things with no plan. Show me that my time is valuable. Protect it like it matters.

🔥 Don’t wait for me to break. Ask me how I am doing before I’m drowning.
If your leadership only kicks in when people are burnt out, it’s already too late.

🔥 Support me in public. Coach me in private.
Leaders who protect their people earn trust. Leaders who throw teachers under the bus lose it forever.

🔥 Let me teach.
I didn’t come into this to fill out Google Forms and sit in data meetings all day.
If you want better instruction, give me the space and support to do it.

🔥 Don’t celebrate me for a week. Advocate for me all year.
When policies are on the table, when decisions are being made, when schedules are being built—remember us then. 

What This Looks Like in Action

If you want to appreciate teachers in a way that actually matters, stop thinking like an event planner. Start thinking like a systems leader.

• Skip the passive compliments. Say what you see.
  Walk a classroom. See something great. Tell that teacher exactly why it mattered. Specific praise builds culture faster than any gift card.

• Audit your leadership calendar.
  How much of your time is spent protecting teacher time? If the answer is “not much,” don’t expect better results.

• Ask this question: “What’s one thing I can take off your plate right now?”
  Then actually take it off. Don’t make it symbolic—make it real.

• Interrupt unnecessary work.
  That report that no one reads? That meeting that could be an email? That initiative with no traction? Shut it down. Give teachers the gift of subtraction.

• Go to the school board, the district, the community—and fight for better.
  The real appreciation isn’t in what you post. It’s in what you push for.

Leadership Moves You Can Make This Week

🍏 Name a specific strength for each teacher.
Leave a handwritten note. Drop a voicemail. Walk by the room. Be intentional and real.

🍏 Cut one nonessential thing this week.
Protect their prep. Cancel a meeting. Skip the spreadsheet. Let them breathe.

🍏 Ask teachers what they need—and listen.
Don’t defend. Don’t fix. Just listen. They’ll tell you what would help.

🍏 Build the schedule next year with teachers in mind.
If the calendar, PD plan, and duty schedule aren’t teacher-friendly, then Teacher Appreciation Week is just noise.

Final Thought: Teachers Don’t Need a Parade. They Need a Partner.

You want to appreciate teachers?

Don’t just love on them.
Lead for them.
Fight for the school they deserve to work in.
Build the systems that let them teach, thrive, and stay.

Because if all we give them is a donut this week and a mess the other 51, don’t be surprised when they stop showing up—or worse, when they show up and stop believing.

On A Recent Episode of The Principal School Podcast…

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