I Sure Do Feel Appreciated

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!  I know it's Teacher Appreciation Week because I got this lovely e-mail from State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. informing me, among other things, about the great new teacher evaluation systems that are going to be put in place despite the fact that the vast majority of working teachers don't like them.

I try not to be paranoid about such things.  I tell myself that I work hard, that I have good relationships with my administration, my students, and their families, that I have nothing to fear.  Usually that works.

But this "Teacher Appreciation Week e-mail" was a real head-scratcher.  Usually when I tell someone that I appreciate them, I don't tell them that I'm going to be figuring out a new way to evaluate their performance (and presumably re-evaluate exactly how much I appreciate them) in the next breath.  But maybe that's just me.

I'm thinking of getting a different Mother's Day card for my mom, for example.  "Thank you for everything you did as my mother.  In the next few months, I'm going to roll out an evaluation system that will allow me to compare you with other moms across the state on a variety of metrics, including post-college income and marital happiness, among the similar daughters of similar mothers."

Maybe that will make her feel even more appreciated.