Teachers love Chocolate brownies and blondies, I know this is true, or I wouldn't have started my Sheffield brownies shop.
It’s almost time for another school year to come to an end, and let the summer holidays begin. Before we start to think about the six weeks of fun for the kids and six weeks of juggling jobs and childcare for us parents, I think we need to give a big thank you to the teachers.
Being a former teacher myself, the six weeks holiday is a great time to finally relax, unwind and re-energize. Teaching is such a hard job, the huge amount of planning that goes into every single lesson, each day for each week is exhausting, but the reward to see the children’s achievements at the end of each academic year makes it all worth it.
Teachers don’t teach to become millionaires and retire at 50, they do it because they genuinely want to help every single student they can, they have a desire to help every child reach their potential.
Whilst teachers have a syllabus of work to follow, each teacher will choose how they want to deliver the content. Some teachers use less creativity and stick to the textbook, often these lessons can be boring and forgettable, but when a teacher goes well above and beyond what is expected of them, creating inspirational engaging lessons their teaching becomes unforgettable. Their lessons bring fun into learning, these are the lessons our children will remember.
During my time as a teacher, I came across so many gifted teachers who helped turn the quietest and shyest pupils into confident young adults, full of life and with a thirst to learn, and conversely focusing the loudest and more boisterous student to achieve the levels they were truly able to achieve, and not just writing them off without really understanding them. Their lessons were varied, fun and engaging and stretched the achievements of every ability.
If you were lucky enough to have one of these teachers, you will still remember them now 10, 20, or even 50 years later. You will remember their name, remember their voice, even remember the clothes they wore and how they made you smile. These are the people who helped shape our lives.
I will never forget Mr Giles, my amazing Maths teacher. When I didn’t understand the first method of problem solving, he always had an alternative approach up his sleeve. He always went the extra mile, he came in early to teach extra lessons from 8am, gave up his lunch hour, and made time after school to help with whatever work we were stuck on. He always made time to demonstrate different methods until that ‘light bulb’ moment happened and it all clicked into place.
Following in Mr Giles footsteps to be a Math teacher, I now understand how much time teachers gave to us. I also remember another amazing teacher Mr Griffiths, my Art teacher. He reminds me now of David Dickenson from The Real Deal! An absolute gentleman, who I always thought seemed ‘too good’ to be a teacher and should have been a famous artist. He could never support me enough in my learning and growing my artistic flair. I will always remember his constant patience and support and often think about him when deciding on what new brownie I could make and how I can be creative in how it is presented for photographs.
After years of seeing their teachers every day of the working week, saying hello in the morning, in their lessons, in the playground, or at the end of every day, it all just stops and children move on! Whether its reception age to Year 1, or Year 6 moving into their first year at secondary school, or even Year 11 leaving for pastures new. Children get attached to their teachers and believe me teachers miss their pupils as much as the pupils miss that special teacher.
Even though I’m not currently teaching I’m still checking in with ex colleague to see how my pupils are getting on, who’s still being naughty, who’s been accepted to what college and what’s the latest gossip. The mind of a pupil is so interesting and fun and I really do miss that everyday. However, I don’t miss the late night planning or planning around school holidays one little bit!
As the school year comes to an end, it’s so important we let our teachers know how much we appreciate and admire them and how much they have helped us. This kind of feedback doesn’t always come from the headteacher. Pupils feedback offer a different experience and only pupils can truly share this. This feedback is a gift and doesn’t need to be anything more than a quick conversation. However, teachers do love thank you gifts and let’s be honest anything sweet to help get through the huge pile of marking is worthy of an A*.
So if you wanted to say thank you with a little gift, then remember that Teachers love brownies, I know this to be true, or I wouldn’t have started my business, and whenever I took brownies into school, I was always amazed how quickly teachers could move ; )
If you would like to buy a gift box of brownies for that special teacher, and include a personalised brownie gift message, I can write this, and pop it in the letterbox brownies gift box, or if you really wanted to make it special, just let me know when you order the brownies online and ask for a blank brownies gift card so that your child can write their special message in their own handwriting and deliver the brownies themselves.
Please check out all the brownies and blondie flavours, as well as the Summer blondies box, and the latest pop up flavour of the month for July, my take on the Raspberry Ripple in the gorgeous form of a raspberry and white chocolate blondie.
Date for your diary Sunday 18th July, I will be at Sharrow Vale Market, please come along and say Hi ! it will be lovely to meet as many of my customers as possible, Sharrow Vale market is such a lovely street market, full of great stalls and lovely people with easy parking