I am a student in my 4th year of college and I have a teacher this semester who I feel kind of bad for sometimes. She is teaching a hard subject and some of the guys in the class are kind of rude to her (I think at least). Nobody got an A on the mid-term exam, but as I mentioned, the material itself is hard to understand and I thought the exam was well done. A lot of people also skip class and I can tell it bothers her. I suffer from severe depression and oversleep so I’ve accidently slept through or just felt like I physically could not go to class, as for it’s my first class on most days. I am the only female in the class so I know that she knows who I am specifically. I recently found out that she is a graduate student and this is her first year teaching. Would it be weird to get her a thank you card at the end of the semester (after grades are posted)? I want her to know that she is a good teacher, it’s just a hard class overall. I also thought about mentioning that I have depression and that is why I was gone sometimes, but I don’t know if that was too much information and also weird to share. Would it be weird or would it actually be a sweet idea?
8 comments
not weird AT ALL. sounds like a very sweet thing to do, and i’m 100% sure she would genuinely appreciate it. these are the types of gestures that she would remember years from now if she sticks with teaching
you don’t need to elaborate on your personal situation though. keep it vague and don’t overshare your details, focus more on just the appreciation aspect
I work in higher education; this kind of thing helps to keep us going. It’s definitely not weird and I am sure it would be appreciated. It’s lovely of you to think of doing that!
I agree with the other commenter. The gesture would probably make her day. Don’t over share, but do be sincere
Not weird at all! I usually do thank you emails once grades are finalized and they’re always appreciated! Try to include what the professor did that you appreciated, just so they know what they should keep doing 🙂
Never weird. I even bring baked goods or chocolate at holidays for the partners at my local Starbucks even. It’ll go a long way
No not weird at all. We continued giving cards and presents to our teachers well into college. It was a special education class and college isn’t like college in the US, more like a higher school than HS… but a lot of students did this and it wasn’t weird 🙂
Do it! Do it! She will really appreciate it. Maybe pick out a card with a pretty/fun front? (everyone I know who has gotten student cards, particularly in grad school, always kept them! and frequently displayed them for awhile lol like pinned up with other things in their office).
My other suggestion would be to focus on being short and sweet in the card, and maybe include one specific thing you enjoyed about her style or the way she presented the topic.
I know this isn’t directly related to your question, but if you haven’t already I’d also encourage you to take time to fill out the anonymous student teaching evaluation for her for the course. This feedback can help her improve her teaching. If she happens to chose to go into academics, she may also choose to share transcript of these anonymous student ratings/comments when applying for her first job. I’m not sure how aware students are of this, but depending on what her goals are it’s possible that in future years there will be people reviewing your comments as part of their review of her performance in the classroom.
Yes I agree just something vague but still genuine, I think that will go such a long way for a professor, that’s a really nice thing to do that I’m sure they will remember always ❤️