Celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week with Hospital Teachers

By: Mary Ware for LearnWell

Teaching—like many professions in the field of healthcare and human services—can sometimes feel like a whirlwind of activity. For those in alternative environments such as medical or behavioral health facilities, teachers may not get to see the true impact they have on students on a regular basis, due to a revolving door of and limited class time with student-patients. However, we all know how important teachers are to the effectiveness of a treatment program, and how helping student-patients continue to make academic progress is an important part of maintaining normalcy and returning to school after discharge.

While providing quality feedback is important year round, the month of May brings an unique opportunity to highlight the work and effort of teachers across the country thanks to Teacher Appreciation Week, which was held this year on May 7-11th, 2018. Showing appreciation for their dedication, creativity, and commitment to improving the lives of students is a key part of ensuring teachers feel valued, and that they are an important part of the team.

Here are 10 quotes to inspire your appreciation efforts for Teacher Appreciation Week:

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”—Henry Adams

“The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called ‘truth’.”—Dan Rather

“If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn’t want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher’s job.”—Donald. D. Quinn

“In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day’s work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years.”—Jacques Barzun

“Great teachers empathize with kids, respect them, and believe that each one has something special that can be built upon.”—Ann Lieberman

“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.”—Carl Jung

“Far and away the best prize the life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”—Theodore Roosevelt

“Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own.”—Nikos Kazantzakis

“Teaching, is not just a job. It is a human service, and it must be thought of as a mission.”—Dr. Ralph Tyler

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”—Pericles

Simple Ways to Show Appreciation to Teachers

There are countless ways to show appreciation to teachers, both during Teacher Appreciation Week and throughout the year. Here are some of our favorites for hospital teachers:

• Provide teachers with a small token of appreciation in the form of a gift, treats, or surprising them with items for breakfast or lunch.
• Highlight the importance of teachers by hanging posters or decorating for Teacher Appreciation Week at your facility.
• Take the time to observe their classroom and interactions with student-patients, and share positive experiences and teacher strengths with the rest of the team.
• If you receive feedback or information from a child’s home district—especially in regards to their hospital education experience or transition back to school—share the comments with your hospital teachers to help them see the full impact of their services.
• If appropriate for your facility, have the student-patients join in the celebration of their teachers by making cards or collecting quotes on what having the teacher there means to them.
• Show your commitment to their success and happiness by asking what they need to feel comfortable and supported in their role.

Though just one—or possibly a few members of a large treatment team—teachers are an essential component to a hospital treatment program. It is important to help them understand the depth of the impact they have on the student-patients they work with on a daily basis, and the importance you place on their role on the team.

Let’s celebrate all of the wonderful teachers in our lives and facilities, and help support those dedicated to supporting the next generation.