A follow up from my older asklemmy post, saying goodbye to a teacher who helped me a lot through my stuff, was thinking maybe chocolate, but one of the dudes said that it’s not a very good idea, I was thinking maybe a perfume/cologne? What do you guys suggest? She is in probably in her early 20s if it helps, and I am in senior high, damn this is getting weirder and weirder, I just want to run away lol

  • actionjbone@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    A greeting card with a note about how she helped you.

    Material gifts will get used up and thrown out over time. But she’ll collect notes and letters from her students over the years, and they will help remind her why she’s teaching.

    • Lem Jukes@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      This, and if you really really wanna put a monetary gift in there, get them a gift card for coffee(go local fuck Starbucks) or honestly somewhere like target that sells school supplies. It’s a bit orphan crushing machine but they may really appreciate the extra cash for supplies.

    • Mom Nom Mom@nom.mom
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      9 months ago

      Concur. I have every card, note, poster, or coloring page I’ve ever gotten from a student. (I volunteered with kids younger than OP)

      Misspelled words don’t matter (I guess maybe if it’s your language arts/spelling/writing teacher it would matter a little) because they thought of me and put time, thought, and energy into a gift for me instead of making a tiktok or whatever.

      • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        I got fired from my job, and while I was cleaning out my locker I found a folder in the back of my locker.

        It had a note from an old lady I helped once. She wrote a whole note about how nice it was to work with me.

        The other thing was a hand-drawn card from a coworker’s daughter, proclaiming me as her friend forever.

        I also had a big stack of gift cards the company had given me to show their appreciation, and I just took them so I’d have food. I don’t feel the slightest bit of meaning from those gift cards.

        Honestly an email from my boss saying “Hey good job on X” would have gone so much further than those gift cards.

    • z00s@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      This. I’m a teacher, and I have about a thousand gift mugs stuck in a closet, but I will hang on to that raggedy half torn post it note that says, “Thank you Mr. [Name] for helping me :)” literally until the day I die.

      In my desk, I have a special folder full of notes from students that I look at when I have a bad day.

      We don’t do it for the money, we do it to help you have a better life. So when students tell us we helped, the feeling is incredible.

      If you want to make sure it doesn’t get mistaken for romantic feelings, just think, “Would I feel weird saying this to my Aunt/Uncle?” while writing it.

      Some potential sentence starters:

      What I appreciated most about being in your class was…

      One time you really helped me was when…

      Something you really helped me understand was…

      The one thing you should never stop doing in class is…

      Whatever you write, your teacher will love it :)