Teacher Appreciation (2024)

"Teacher Appreciation" is the eighteenth episode of the second season and 31st overall of Abbott Elementary. It aired on March 8, 2023.

Description[]

It’s Teacher Appreciation Day. When the district gives Abbott two courtside tickets to a 76ers game, the teachers must decide who deserves them. Later, Janine invites the teachers to her house for game night and her sister, Ayesha, comes to visit.

Plot[]

It is Teacher Appreciation Week and the students are giving gifts to their favorite teachers. While the teachers appreciate these gifts, they can’t help but feel like it’s a way for the school district to placate the teachers and distract them from the fact that the district has never given them so much as a $50 Buffalo Wild Wings gift card.

The teachers are sharing what their students have brought them when Ava tells them that she got them a gift from the school district. She entered them into the district lottery and reveals the gift to be court-side seat tickets to the Philadelphia 76ers. The teachers are ecstatic, especially since the district never once gave them anything before. Just as everyone expresses their joy, Ava bursts their bubbles and informs them that she only got them two tickets. Everyone falls quiet in disappointment.

In the teachers’ lounge, Janine invites Jacob and Gregory to game night at her house. Her sister, Ayesha, is visiting tomorrow and she’s planning on spending some time with her. Gregory and Jacob accept her invitation. Just then, Ava makes an announcement through the P.A. system to meet at the library so they can decide who will get the tickets to the basketball game.

Before they even start to discuss on who is getting the tickets, the teachers begin to argue on who deserves or doesn’t deserve the gift. Barbara declares that the tickets should go to a native Philadelphian, which is a clear jab at Gregory. Gregory responds by saying that the tickets should go to someone who wants to go more than anyone else, and since the 76ers are playing the Wizards, his favorite team, he should get the tickets. He suggests that they just pick names from a hat, but Melissa shoots down the suggestion since it could go to someone who won’t even use the tickets but will instead sell them. Jacob suggests that they just vote for whoever they think should get the tickets, to which Ava agrees and the other teachers do so, as well.

After school, Ayesha arrives at Janine’s place. Janine is excited to hang out and has a lot of activities in mind that they could do together. However, Ayesha tells her that she had already made plans with some people so she isn’t available to hang out with her. Janine tries and fails to hide her disappointment, telling Ayesha that since she just arrived to stay at her place, she should have told her that she had already made plans. This catches Ayesha off guard and she sarcastically tells Janine that she’ll make sure to check in next time. Janine brushes it off and tells her that it’s cool, but that they should hang out tomorrow because she already planned game night for her and her friends. Ayesha tells her that she wouldn’t miss game night because it seems like she couldn’t even if she wanted to.

The following day, Ava is handing out ballots for the ticket voting. After the distribution of the ballots, Jacob asks Janine how things went with her sister last night. Janine shares what happened last night and admits that since she didn’t tell Ayesha that they were hanging out, it was fine. She’s still excited for game night and asks if Jacob and Gregory were still going. The two confirm their attendance.

In the teachers’ lounge, Mr. Morton and Jacob are in a serious conversation about the tickets. They’re discussing how second-floor teachers like them need to stick together and that they deserve those tickets more than the first-floor teachers. Melissa overhears and begs to differ. She claims to be more deserving since she’s teaching two classes at once. Barbara argues that if they’re talking about who deserves it more, then the most tenured teacher should have the tickets, which is her. The other teachers chime in with how they are the more deserving. The debate gets intense with Melissa and Barbara ending up insulting one another.

Later that day, all the teachers gather at the gym to await the announcement of the winner. Ava declares Mr. Johnson to be the winner and many of the teachers object. Ava is confused since they all voted for him, but Melissa says that she only voted for him because she didn’t think he’d win and because she was annoyed with everyone else.

That night, Ayesha, Jacob, Gregory, and Erika are all at Janine’s for game night. Ayesha is sharing an anecdote and everyone else listens intently. They’re in the middle of a game of Drought and nobody, except Jacob, understands how to play it. Erika decides that she needs a drink. Janine offers her a short island iced tea, but she was short on ingredients so it’s just mostly co*ke and ice. Ayesha also offers them her signature co*cktail, called a beer. As she’s leaving to get some in the kitchen, Jacob and Erika tell Janine that her sister’s pretty cool.

Ayesha returns with the beer and it’s her turn on the board. She’s provided with an option to either stay and provide water to the land she’s at, or to take all the water and leave. She decides to leave. Janine complains because she now has to provide water for all of the land. Ayesha responds saying that since the point of the game is to survive, you can’t do that if you’re taking care of everybody else. Janine sarcastically comments that it’s shocking. Ayesha demands for her to explain. Janine tells her that it’s not surprising that when things get tough for her, she just leaves. Ayesha responds that she knows a lost cause when she sees one and she doesn’t want to waste her time. Janine scoffs saying that it’s because she abandons people and that it’s nice to finally hear her say it out loud. Refusing to hear any more, Ayesha gets up and leaves.

Janine follows Ayesha outside and they continue to argue. Janine reiterates that Ayesha always ran and hid whenever things got hard. She says that Ayesha left her to handle their mother alone, knowing how hard it is to deal with her. Ayesha explains that it was hard on her too because unlike Janine whom people had high hopes for, everyone else had given up on her. It was hard knowing that the person who needed her was the same person most disappointed in her, which is why she ran. Janine says that she understands why she left their mother but it also felt like she left her, too. Just then, Jacob interrupts them saying that they should continue their game. Janine suggests that they go back inside and Ayesha follows her.

The next day in the teachers’ lounge, Ava hands Mr. Johnson his courtside tickets. Melissa asks who he’s going with, in hopes that he’ll take her with him. Unfortunately, Mr. Johnson is taking Dr. J, his podiatrist to the game. As Mr. Johnson leaves, Barbara apologizes to Melissa for the things she said yesterday. Melissa apologizes as well, and the two make up.

Later that day, Ayesha pays Janine a visit at school. Janine is surprised that Ayesha knows where she works. Ayesha tells her that her job is the biggest part of her life and that she does listen. The two small talk, as Ayesha helps Janine carry the projector to Gregory’s room.

In Barbara’s classroom, her student gives her a belated teacher appreciation gift. This reminds her why she’s still teaching even after so many years. She shares that it’s about the people who show up at school every day – the teachers and the students. She has always received lotion during teacher appreciation week. What she loves most about the lotion is that when she puts it on, it reminds her that the school, her peers, and their students are all they have, and they all appreciate each other so much.

Meanwhile, Venus hands Ava a letter from the district. It’s a letter to inform her that the petition to change Abbott Elementary into a Legendary Charter will be coming in from of the school board soon.

At the teachers’ lounge, the teachers are watching a video of the 76ers game. Mr. Johnson is at courtside and Christian Crosby is looking for a lucky fan for their 30-second quiz, with the prize being $1,000. He finds Mr. Johnson and janitor is up for the challenge. In 30-seconds, Christian asks Mr. Johnson to name ten cleaning products. Without watching the rest of the video, Melissa concludes that Mr. Johnson just won $1,000. He adds that they also gave him a $50 gift card to Buffalo Wild Wings.

Starring[]

• Quinta Brunson as Janine Teagues
• Tyler James Williams as Gregory Eddie
• Janelle James as Ava Coleman
• Lisa Ann Walter as Melissa Schemmenti
• Chris Perfetti as Jacob Hill
• William Stanford Davis as Mr. Johnson
• Sheryl Lee Ralph as Barbara Howard

Guest Starring[]

• Ayo Edebiri as Ayesha
• Jerry Minor as Mr. Morton
• Courtney Taylor as Erika
• Christian Crosby as Himself

Co-Starring[]

• Nicole Dele as Ms. Pinkney
• Erika T. Johnson as Venus
• Darryl-Lee Canyon as Daryl
• Richard Whitney Gardenhire Jr. as Barbara's Student #1
• Jayce B. Johnson as Malcolm

Ratings[]

"Teacher Appreciation" was watched by 2.787 million viewers, earning a 0.43 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale.^[1]

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References[]

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