Teacher Gifts

Stephanie just posted about end-of-the-year teacher gifts and I just had to post my own teacher gifts post.  As an itinerant teacher, I am usually forgotten when it comes to teacher education week or end-of-the-year gifts or any other day that warrants gifts for that matter.  It's sad sometimes because I really enjoy all of my students and wish they would appreciate me but I understand at the same time that I'm not a classroom teacher.  I did have one student my third year of teaching whose mother used to knit.  That year, I truly felt loved.  I got a knitted, stuffed heart for Valentine's Day, and when we held the annual review I got this beautiful creation:

What is it you ask? Well...we have speculated many things.  I'll describe it a little bit more for you and maybe you can tell me.  You can see the big yellow chicken in the middle, it is sitting on a white skirt that holds little mini-chicks all around its edges.  It sits flat on a table...but it kind of bunches as if it's not supposed to sit completely flat.  I think maybe it's supposed to be a topper to something, although I'm not entirely sure what.  Someone suggested maybe it's supposed to cover an air freshener pod.  When we first got married, I would sneak it onto the banister of our stairs to annoy Chad, although I don't think that's where it belongs either.  

I joke about it but obviously I still have it all these years later and I knew exactly where it was to go and retrieve it and it does mean a lot to me.  As silly as it is, when I look at it I remember that the family realized I was helping the student and it really did make me feel appreciated and acknowledged.  I do think as teachers it doesn't matter what is given, but anything that shows you cared enough to do something makes a difference to us.  Knitted chicken families are tops in my book!