Teacher Appreciation, Zoom Style
In 2020, to tell a teacher “thank you,” students have to get creative.
I heard it in almost every class I was taking leading up to the end of my first semester in college: “If we were in-person, we would do this…” “Normally we’d have a party on the last day of class…” “The end of the semester usually doesn’t look like this, but…”
Although it seems obvious by this point, it’s true — this semester hasn’t been at all normal. And yet it is the end of it, those last few classes before winter break, that perhaps feels the weirdest. While we have (to the extent possible) developed friendships with our classmates, gotten to know our teachers, and have built up some spirit and excitement, we don’t get to celebrate the semester in person, but rather, through a Zoom screen. And so, of course, saying goodbye to and thanking our teachers will also be different.
Unless your classes are in-person or a hybrid format, you can’t exactly say goodbye to them in-person. And so people have been getting creative in showing appreciation towards their teachers, surprising them on Zoom.
It works like this: You and your classmates will coordinate a specific time to come into the Zoom meeting (usually the very beginning of class), but with your mics muted and your cameras off. At this point…
