Last week seniors picked up their graduation materials: caps, gowns, and tassels. So this week I was inundated with graduation invitations. I love getting graduation pictures and invitations from students! Getting to see how much students have matured and grown is such a treat! I keep every picture and invitation in my Feel Good File.
One of my co-workers, a newer teacher, also received some graduation invitations and didn’t quite know how do respond. Did she need to attend graduation? Was it appropriate to attend graduation parties? Should she bring a gift? Graduation comes with a lot of etiquette, so I thought I’d share my experiences with you.
This post this post may contain affiliate links. Please read the Terms of Use.
Seek Community Standards
Since I teach at a large school, there is little pressure for teachers to attend graduation ceremonies or parties. However, I often wonder how that works in smaller communities. For this reason, I suggest seeking community guidance and standards on how to proceed. Ask a mentor teacher or building leader what expectations exist for graduation and for graduate parties.
Celebrate Graduates
Regardless of whether you decide to attend graduation ceremonies or parties, graduation is a great opportunity for celebration! Here are some low-stress ways to celebrate:
- Display Invitations and Pictures: One of the easiest ways to celebrate graduates is to display their senior pictures in your classroom. My students love to look at the pictures from past students. For some of my students, getting to hang their picture is aspirational, and I am ready for anything that gets students engaged and motivated.
- Emphasize Growth: One of my favorite ways to send off my seniors is by breaking out their goal sheets from the beginning of the year so they can see how much they have grown. This also works well with student writing. Get out students’ first piece of writing from the year, and ask students to see how much they have grown. Sometimes they are shocked by their first writing sample! This is a great way to help students visualize their success.
- Send them off with Love: At the end of the day, when students graduate, teachers want them to know how much they care! We want students to know how bright their futures are! One easy way to do this is to ask to sign their yearbooks. If they don’t have a yearbook, you can always use a blank greeting card.
Ask Graduates to Celebrate Teachers
Since this is Teacher Appreciation Week, let’s also talk about celebrating teachers. As my senior classes wind down, I often ask my graduating seniors to take the thank-you challenge. With this challenge, graduating students write a heartfelt card to someone who has helped them arrive at graduation. Often times students write to past teachers, but some also write to parents, counselors, youth pastors, etc. I provide students with blank cards, and we discuss appropriate tone before they begin writing. There’s something magical about giving them cards and envelopes, too! I keep track of this and my other favorite Cute Classroom Ideas here.
Another way to celebrate teachers right now is to join in the Teacher’s Pay Teachers Appreciation Sale! Use the code GIFT4YOU to get up to 25% off May 7-8 (today and tomorrow)! My entire store is discounted, so you can celebrate teachers with some best-selling products, including:
- 4 Tools for Teaching “The Danger of a Single Story” (read about it here)
- “Song of Myself” Reading Questions and Writing Prompts (read about how I teach poetry here)
- Thomas Paine’s “The Crisis No. 1” Questions and Prompts (read about my favorite anchor chart for rhetoric here)
- Heart of Darkness Ch. 1 Close Reading Parts 1 and 2 (read about close reading strategies here)
- Things Fall Apart Synthesis Bundle (read about the texts here)
Last Words
Over the years, there are a few odd things that I have also learned. First, when students pick up their caps and gowns, remind them to go home, open the package, check the size, and hang it up immediately. If students don’t hang up the prize, the wrinkles set in, or a student ends up with the wrong size and doesn’t know until it’s too late. We’d hope that parents and families would take care of this little reminder, but the truth is that many students struggle with at-home support.
Earlier this week, my co-worker who received an invitation also asked me if she needed to send a gift. Here’s the short of it: no, you don’t need to send a gift. Again, I’d refer to your school and community standards. My own policy has been to send a $10-15 gift card to students who send me a graduation invitation. That works for me and is something that’s in my power; if that’s not a possibility for you, that’s fine, too! At the end of the day, students are more likely to remember that you were kind, caring, and compassionate. What are your suggestions for celebrating graduates sensibly and successfully?
