<p>There are lots of threads about dealing with poor teachers, with good reason. I’ve also seen a thread here about what to give teachers who wrote recommendations, if anything. </p>
<p>So I thought I’d add my two cents. Given that administrators are constantly getting complaints about issues with teachers, the best thing a parent who thinks that I have gone above and beyond could do would be to drop an email to my boss. Those notes really stand out. Teachers toil in relative isolation, and often the administrators have no idea of the things we do for our kids. I just received a nice email from a parent thanking me for helping to deal promptly with an issue regarding her child. That appreciation is really appreciated. :-)</p>
<p>My S had a fabulous teacher in training. At the end of the year, I wrote to the dean of S’s school to register my appreciation of the great job the teacher had done. I hope it went into her dossier!</p>
<p>Probably three times a year I email teachers thanking them for specific things they have done in the classroom, or for particular help for one of my children. I always cc the principal at their school. </p>
<p>As soon as my D is admitted to college, I plan to email her GCs who have been amazing, and I will cc the principal and our district superintendant, because there is talk of cutting back on numbers of GCs in our schools. Some consider them a luxury, but this year I learned just how important they are to my child’s future :)</p>
<p>I agree as well. On the other hand, there were several times earlier this year when parents who were upset with another teacher were singing my praises to the principal in an effort to complain about the other teacher.</p>
<p>While flattering, I was uncomfortable with the positive comments coming in that way. The circumstances in which I was teaching their children were very different than those of the teacher this year. It wasn’t fair to compare the other teacher to me IMO. The situations were too different.</p>
<p>Hopefully the administrators are savvy enough to separate the wheat from the chaff. I hadn’t thought about parents trying to pit one teacher or teacher’s methods against another, but I’m sure it happens. Yet another reason that I would NOT want my boss’ job. Frankly, most administrators will consider the source. </p>
<p>A note to parents who want to express positive feedback about a teacher- doing so while making unfavorable remarks about another teacher dilutes the praise, and instead of seeing a positive, the administrator will see a potential problem: conflict between teachers. This is NOT the light in which I would want to be seen by my bosses.</p>
<p>A nice comment is always a plus, especially when the only communication is usually negative. Never hurts. Also HS teachers are a little shorted at the holidays. My spouse an elementary always comes home with cookies and chocolates at xmas. We forget about our junior and hs teachers. Our Hs/junior high teachers always appreicated the cookies as a thank you. It never hurts to be nice.</p>
<p>As far as letter writing goes as a soccer ref I once wrote an email to a HS principal about his boys jv team… they lost a close game, but were as respectful and sporting a group of kids you’ve ever run across. I ran into the coach around 5 weeks later and He said the principal came down and stopped both varsity and jv practices and read the letter to both squads. He was so proud of these students because somebody took notice of their sportsmanship. So a nice letter can go along way.</p>
<p>I don’t know my son’s high school teachers well enough to know whether they deserve notes to the principal from me or not. (Though this year I could easily write one for my younger son’s history teacher. He constantly talks about the class at home and his longstanding interest in history has intensified and been greatly expanded.) I did write a note to teacher and cc’ed it to both the principal and superintendent of schools in the case of Mathson’s 3rd grade teacher. She was new to the school, but was absolutely wonderful at differentiating his education.</p>
<p>You would know. If a teacher stayed in to tutor your child 3 - 5 days a week, or encouraged him to participate in an extra curricular he had never considered, or been an extra ear when his life was a mess, or given extra time to make up assignments when a situation had made the grading period a disaster… etc… you would know.</p>
<p>I’m certainly not suggesting that all parents should rack their brains to think of something to tell the boss about all their kids’ teachers. But if you find yourself telling a friend about something great that a teacher did for your child or a class full of students, consider telling his or her boss, too. That’s all I’m saying.</p>
<p>I’ve usually sent a thank you note to the teacher, but always cc the principal. A couple of years ago, one of D1’s best teacher was involved in a situation as the school tennis coach, in which the AD thought he’d acted inappropriately (nothing sexual–it was more of an anger management issue, and not directed at any specific student on the team). Anyway, he was suspended, and the “word” at the school was that the AD was pushing for him to be fired. I immediately wrote a very strong letter to the principal, and stated that if she decided he shouldn’t coach any longer, that was one thing; but I asked her to remember that his primary function at the school was as a science teacher…and as such, had been the most inspiring and “best” teacher D had ever had. I sent a blind copy to the teacher, and I got one of the most heartfelt thank you’s from him. He said that I had “no idea” what the impact of my letter had been. My time was well spent on that one.</p>
<p>Mathson didn’t need tutoring and rarely talked about what went on in class. But with a needier or more outgoing child I might well have known. I probably should write a note for his freshman year Physics teacher who also coached Science Olympiad. He’s a great guy and I do know he’s gone the extra mile. (Not just with SO, but also an incredible website full of physics stuff for kids to check out.)</p>
<p>Bravo. With a fine new teacher, you can help tip the scales towards tenure because one criterion for tenure is good relationships with parents, along with classroom performance more available for a principal to witness.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about the impacts of these nice notes. If you had a positive experience, and simply describe it, a good administrator will put it into its proper context. </p>
<p>When I was being evaluated for tenure (first three years in the district, subject to numerous observations) my principal got a nice note like that from the parent of a rare gifted child (no cc to me, so I had no idea I was meeting their needs).</p>
<p>Principal called me out of class to read it to me. It blew the momentum for the rest of that hour, because the kids were so freaked out that I got called in to see the principal. They thought I’d been bad. Still, I went back to them feeling great.</p>
<p>Often the parents of gifted kids see things in teachers that other parents don’t prize. So if your child is being well-met, it’s very important. Differentiated learning, especially in a large public school classroom, is admired but more attention and praise is mentioned to teachers when it’s helping the lower end of the class. To show the differentiation helps the tippy tops is important info for the principal to hear. It would likely be put into the category of “meeting individual students needs” which is laudable.</p>