Thank You Gift for LOR

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personal opinion here is that a gift card is inappropriate at this time. I would only have them write a thank you note. However at the end of senior year, when all of the college stuff was in the rear view mirror, mine wrote a second thank you to each and then included a gift card, bc these were teachers that not only wrote LORs but who they appreciated overall (they did that for other teachers as well).

PP here. We gave $25 gift cards and a handwritten thank you for all teachers our kids chose to, as well as for LOR writers, all at the end of the school year (senior year)

[Anonymous]

Gift card is fine but no more than $20. Don’t make them violate ethics rules.

[Anonymous]

Teacher who writes plenty of LOR's. It would make me feel weird if you gave me a gift. Like you thought I did it for pay. An end of the year gift would be fine, although definitely not needed, and even less weird if you gave it to all their teachers not just the LOR ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Senior at FCPS high school. He recently gave his teachers a thank you note with a gift card after they submitted their LOR. The gift was a $15 amazon card.

Wow! Totally unnecessary and boarding in inappropriate. This is a service the teachers provide. A thank you letter with NO monetary supplement is all that is needed. I'm surprised that this was even deemed a reasonable response. But then again this is DCUM so I guess I shouldn't be.

Funny that you post your outrage in response to a $15 gift card rather than the $100 ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, that would not be appropriate.

It is part of their job.

Maybe it's not appropriate, but it is certainly NOT a part of the job.

It is definitely NOT a part of my job. I am not required to write a single LOR, and my administration would not force me to write one. These are done on our own time. I write all of mine over the summer, a process that usually takes me over 40 hours (unpaid) to write them all. I’m happy to do it because I want to help my students on their way to college. To be clear, though: this is done as a favor. I usually write 35-40 a year, and each one is unique. I don’t use templates or old letters.

I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I’ve received a total of 3 thank you notes. It isn’t common, to be honest, and I suspect that’s because people believe it’s part of our jobs. I don’t expect them, but I LOVE receiving cards.

My own child is a senior. She wrote thank you cards to her recommenders.

I totally disagree. And I say that as a professor who has written countless recommendations for graduate school, jobs and internships. It IS part of your job, if you think like a professional (vs an hourly worker who only does what is spelled out in your union contract).

+1. If you want to treated like a professional you do these on your own time and recognize that’s how it works. No one is going to take anything off your plate to give you time write them. Because of what I teachh I get hit with PhD application season at the very hectic end of fall semester and med school application season in the summer when I am “off contract”.

The most I’ve ever gotten is a thank you card or box of chocolates. Obviously it’s different when the students are young adults on their own and often broke, but I would never accept a $100 gift card from a student for writing a letter. I would feel so weird doing that. A heartfelt note is more than enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was curious if it is okay for my son to give his teachers that wrote recommendations a thank you card with a gift card after he receives a letter of recommendation from them for college. We wanted to give them a gift card to thank them for their time and will give it after the letter has been submitted so it doesn't influence the letter of recommendation. Wanted to know thoughts on if this is inappropriate.

In our school, $50 is official limit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher who writes plenty of LOR's. It would make me feel weird if you gave me a gift. Like you thought I did it for pay. An end of the year gift would be fine, although definitely not needed, and even less weird if you gave it to all their teachers not just the LOR ones.

College prof here who feels the same way. BUT at the college level, I will anticipate that you a) thank me in a professional way (a sincere and more-than-one-sentence email is just fine; I don't need anything more) and b) let me know the outcomes of your applications. I need to know if my letters are effective, and your data really helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, that would not be appropriate.

It is part of their job.

Maybe it's not appropriate, but it is certainly NOT a part of the job.

It is definitely NOT a part of my job. I am not required to write a single LOR, and my administration would not force me to write one. These are done on our own time. I write all of mine over the summer, a process that usually takes me over 40 hours (unpaid) to write them all. I’m happy to do it because I want to help my students on their way to college. To be clear, though: this is done as a favor. I usually write 35-40 a year, and each one is unique. I don’t use templates or old letters.

I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I’ve received a total of 3 thank you notes. It isn’t common, to be honest, and I suspect that’s because people believe it’s part of our jobs. I don’t expect them, but I LOVE receiving cards.

My own child is a senior. She wrote thank you cards to her recommenders.

I totally disagree. And I say that as a professor who has written countless recommendations for graduate school, jobs and internships. It IS part of your job, if you think like a professional (vs an hourly worker who only does what is spelled out in your union contract).

+1. If you want to treated like a professional you do these on your own time and recognize that’s how it works. No one is going to take anything off your plate to give you time write them. Because of what I teachh I get hit with PhD application season at the very hectic end of fall semester and med school application season in the summer when I am “off contract”.

The most I’ve ever gotten is a thank you card or box of chocolates. Obviously it’s different when the students are young adults on their own and often broke, but I would never accept a $100 gift card from a student for writing a letter. I would feel so weird doing that. A heartfelt note is more than enough.

DCUM is never going to change. Let’s make sure we insult and criticize teachers at every turn, expecting (demanding?) them to give up ALL work/life balance.

I’m the PP who says they aren’t part of our jobs. They aren’t! We do them anyway BECAUSE we want to help. I clearly spelled that out in my original post, and still got slammed. I admitted that I spend a full unpaid work week writing these to HELP my students, even though this isn’t part of my job.

What do you want me to say? That it is my job to take on every additional task that is thrown my way? Guess what? I already do! I’m up at 5:30am on a Saturday to get more work done, which today means proofreading late college essays for the 10/15 application deadline. My job? No, it actually isn’t. Am I doing it because I care? Yes!

So lay off the insults. Those of us who work around the clock (70 hour weeks lately) to help our students get a little tired of the constant DCUM insults toward teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, that would not be appropriate.

It is part of their job.

Maybe it's not appropriate, but it is certainly NOT a part of the job.

It is definitely NOT a part of my job. I am not required to write a single LOR, and my administration would not force me to write one. These are done on our own time. I write all of mine over the summer, a process that usually takes me over 40 hours (unpaid) to write them all. I’m happy to do it because I want to help my students on their way to college. To be clear, though: this is done as a favor. I usually write 35-40 a year, and each one is unique. I don’t use templates or old letters.

I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I’ve received a total of 3 thank you notes. It isn’t common, to be honest, and I suspect that’s because people believe it’s part of our jobs. I don’t expect them, but I LOVE receiving cards.

My own child is a senior. She wrote thank you cards to her recommenders.

I totally disagree. And I say that as a professor who has written countless recommendations for graduate school, jobs and internships. It IS part of your job, if you think like a professional (vs an hourly worker who only does what is spelled out in your union contract).

+1. If you want to treated like a professional you do these on your own time and recognize that’s how it works. No one is going to take anything off your plate to give you time write them. Because of what I teachh I get hit with PhD application season at the very hectic end of fall semester and med school application season in the summer when I am “off contract”.

The most I’ve ever gotten is a thank you card or box of chocolates. Obviously it’s different when the students are young adults on their own and often broke, but I would never accept a $100 gift card from a student for writing a letter. I would feel so weird doing that. A heartfelt note is more than enough.

[Anonymous]

Have written countless LORs. Never got a gift. Never expected a gift.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Senior at FCPS high school. He recently gave his teachers a thank you note with a gift card after they submitted their LOR. The gift was a $15 amazon card.

Wow! Totally unnecessary and boarding in inappropriate. This is a service the teachers provide. A thank you letter with NO monetary supplement is all that is needed. I'm surprised that this was even deemed a reasonable response. But then again this is DCUM so I guess I shouldn't be.

Funny that you post your outrage in response to a $15 gift card rather than the $100 ones.

My outrage is at ANY monetary amount - I just didn't want to sort through all the responses to add a comment. There is ZERO need for a monetary award for a letter of recommendation. It's not a paid service. A thank you card is sufficient.

[Anonymous]

Know the limit and, as long as you are not exceeding it, go for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gift card is fine but no more than $20. Don’t make them violate ethics rules.

Sure. Please show me where these rules are.

[Anonymous]

I write around 10-20 a year for an FCPS high school. These take a lot of time, usually around an hour each. I don’t expect a gift, but I do expect a thank you, whether written/emailed/verbal. Each year 2-3 kids give me some trinket to say thanks. Either a mug or an edible treat or a small (<$10) gift card.

[Anonymous]

We gave $25 gift cards and a handwritten thank you for all teachers our kids chose to, as well as for LOR writers, all at the end of the school year (senior year)

This is our plan. DC gives all their teachers a thank you note and end of the year treat from a local bakery and will do so again, but the LOR writers will get a thank you note & $25 gift card. Over the years, we've given gift cards in various amounts with thank you cards at the end of the year and every single teacher's been grateful.