Favorite Post: Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Month: Is It May or October?

Over the next week, I will be completing the writing of a book about Sunday School. During that time, I will be sharing favorite blog posts–those which have received the most hits (pageviews). We are counting down the top ten. Here is the number four favorite! Enjoy!

Depending on who you ask, teacher appreciation month is either May or October. In some ways, October is too early for school teachers or for Sunday School and other church teachers. May sounds right in some other ways for school teachers except that May is such a busy month as school ends for the year. For Sunday School and other church teachers, only three months of most Sunday School years remain: June, July, and August.

So which is it: May or October? You won’t like my answer, but it is both and the other ten months as well. Pastors, staff, and other church leaders should find regular ways to recognize and thank teachers throughout the year. Yes, I think it is especially appropriate to focus that appreciation in one or two months. But why not develop a monthly calendar of ways to express appreciation to those who shepherd God’s flock in Sunday School?

Consider these twelve ways to express appreciation:
1.        Teacher Thank You Card Sunday
2.        Give an Apple to Your Teacher Sunday
3.        Teacher Commissioning Sunday
4.        Take a Teacher Out to Eat Week
5.        Mug a Teacher Sunday
6.        Take a class photo, enlarge it, and have class members sign and frame it
7.        Pray for Your Teacher Week
8.        Christmas Class Fellowship (with teacher appreciation)
9.        Teacher Appreciation Poetry Sunday
10.        Teacher Pounding (give pounds of various food, etc) Sunday
11.        Teacher Gift Certificate Sunday
12.        Teacher Appreciation Banquet.