BALTIMORE — A northeast Baltimore school came up with a fun way to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week by hosting challenges based on reality TV show.
Teachers and staff at Garrett Heights Elementary/Middle School have been doing challenges akin to the show "Survivor" all week.
"Each day, the teachers come in, they spin a wheel, and they pick one of the envelopes that we have numbered, and that's when the challenge begins," said Keisha Matthews-Traynham, the school's principal. "They have at least 24 hours to complete the challenge and send us the information for it."
It's nothing too physical but a whole lot of fun.
"No one is getting knocked out of the school or the team or anything like that. Everyone is having a ball," said Sirron Rollins-Moreland, a literacy coach at Garrett Heights.
When teachers spin the wheel, they get their challenge, Nos. 1 through 50 and a chance to win prizes. One teacher had to do the "Snoopy dance" while another became "The Masked Singer."
"(The challenge) we had (was), 'Please write a note to someone that you don’t know very well. Write a note to someone that you admire,'" Rollins Moreland said.
For third grade teacher Jordyn Williams, one of her challenges was to get the media to cover their contest.
"I had to email local news, radio stations and newspapers to tell them about our version of Teacher Appreciation Week, and I got five points for just emailing, and I got 12 points if they actually showed up," Williams told 11 News.
WBAL-TV 11 News was happy to help Ms. Williams, who said showing one another appreciation is important and teaching kids some valuable lessons "to be competitive, but also to be friendly with your coworkers and your peers."
"Next year, I can't wait to see what we're going to come up with next because this year has definitely been fun," Matthews-Traynham said.