Three reasons to conduct a Teacher Appreciation Campaign at your school
1. It boosts morale and public support.
- A kind word can go a long way. While teachers greatly appreciate the private notes of gratitude they receive from parents and students, appreciations submitted for your campaign are publicly posted to the Teacher Stories website for all to enjoy.
- This online tool encourages students, parents, and school leaders to submit public messages of appreciation to educators. This shared experience can deepen connections with stakeholders and strengthen school climate.
2. It's easy!
- With support from Teacher Stories, you can honor your teachers in just three simple steps.
- Teacher Stories staff review all submissions and are available to help during any step in the process.
- The Appreciation system automatically notifies honored teachers when their email addresses are included with submissions.
3. It's free! Need we say more?
- No gimmicks, no ads, no sharing email addresses.
- If you still have questions, feel free to email us at info@teacherstories.org or keep reading to learn how to launch a Teacher Appreciation campaign in three easy steps.
How to Conduct a Teacher Appreciation Campaign at Your School
Launching a teacher appreciation campaign at your school is easy. We suggest downloading the Teacher Appreciation Implementation Guide and following these steps:
Step 1: Discuss the concept of the teacher appreciation campaign and its benefits with administrators, school leaders, and parent leaders.
- Send an email, inviting your colleagues to learn more. Sample email templates can be accessed here.
- Consider sharing a a teacher appreciation campaign story from another school and a few appreciations that have been submitted by parents and students.
- Share this 2 minute video about the Teacher Appreciation Project with your colleagues. Send an email message to teachers about the campaign, when it will be launched, and who will be invited to submit appreciations. Explain how appreciations for the school and for individual teachers can be viewed. (See sample email message to teachers)
Step 2: Promote your campaign.
- Invite parents and students to submit appreciations. These email messages should indicated when the campaign will be launched, how long it will run, and instructions on how to submit an appreciation. Sample email templates can be accessed here.
- Consider adding a message about your school's appreciation campaign on your school's website.
- Share your campaign via social media.
Step 3: Follow up with your school community after the campaign has been launched.
- Periodically share the URL for you your school's Appreciations with your school community so they can view the current collection of appreciations. (See the answer to the Frequently Asked Question below about how to view appreciations for a school or teacher).
- Send a follow-up email message to parents and students. Remind them to submit their appreciations and invite them to review recent submissions. Be sure to include the URL for your school's appreciations. Sample reminder messages can be accessed here.
Enjoy the process and send a message to info@teacherstories.org if:
- You need help with your appreciation campaign.
- You have suggestions for the Teacher Appreciation Guide or the Teacher Appreciation webpage.
- You want to share a story about a successful Teacher Appreciation campaign at your school.
Frequently Asked Questions about Teacher Appreciation Campaigns
What does it cost to run an Appreciation Campaign?
Conducting a teacher appreciation campaign is FREE and Teacher Stories does not run ads or sell email addresses.
What if someone submits an inappropriate message?
Before publishing new appreciations, Teacher Stories reviews each submission. Occasionally we edit text to correct minor errors (e.g., punctuation and spelling). Inappropriate submissions (e.g., foul language, negative comments) are not published.
How do teachers know that they have been appreciated?
After Teacher Stories staff have approved a submission an email message is immediately sent to the teacher who has been appreciated, assuming that the person submitting the message was able to include the email address of the teacher.
The email sent to the teacher indicates who submitted the appreciation, the appreciation message, and a link to the appreciation on the Teacher Stories website.
How can one view the appreciations for an individual district, school, or teacher?
To view the appreciations that have been submitted for an individual district, school, or teacher go to the View Teacher Appreciations page, then follow these steps:
- Click on Find Appreciations By Teacher, School, or District
- Enter your search criteria (e.g., School = Main Street Elementary; District = Anywhere Unified) and then hit the Search button.
- If the Teacher Appreciations page displays the messages you are looking for, click on the URL in your web browser to select it, then select Copy from the Edit menu. The URL you have selected can be sent to others, used in an email message, posted on a website and the records matching your criteria (including new ones that have been added) will appear when the URL has been selected.
Appreciation Campaign Stories
Read about the schools that have launched successful teacher appreciation campaigns.
- View appreciations from parents and students at these schools
- Read testimonials from honored teachers
- See what school leaders say about the benefits of teacher appreciation campaigns
Sample Email Messages to Initiate and Sustain Appreciation Campaigns
- View sample email messages to students, parents, and the school community that you can copy, paste and edit to conduct your teacher appreciation campaigns
- Learn how to include the URL for your school's appreciations in your email messages