Celebrating Individual Strengths

I had the pleasure of spending all day Saturday listening to and learning from Ruth Ayres (read her blog here: www.ruthayreswrites.com).  I attended a session where she talked about celebrating in the world of writing.  This year, I have really worked hard to celebrate my student's writing, intentionally, not only at the end (product), but also in the process.  On Saturday, Ruth gave us more ideas for how to celebrate our kids work.  I left this professional development session with my head spinning and ideas flowing!

This is a time of year that I remember being more challenging last year as my fifth grade students were excited and focused on their big changes with middle school on the horizon.  This class is showing no different signs of excitement and anticipation.  That being said, their focus, thoughtfulness, and kindness towards one another has not been at their best for a few weeks now.  On Saturday, we were asked to select one student to record all the things I could celebrate about them over a few short minutes of writing.  What I ended up with was a list of five students, lots to celebrate, not enough time to celebrate/write more, and an idea that has turned my student's classroom community around quickly!

I made the decision on Sunday to write each of my students a brief, two sentence note letting them know what I celebrate about them, individually, as a part of our classroom community.  No two students had anything similar on their notes.  Take a look at some of my comments below.

The response I got, blew me away!  I stood in the hallway greeting my students and watched their reactions as they found their personalized notes.  They looked around the room with smiles and confusion on their faces.  They walked around sharing one another's notes and reading eachother's note.  They talked to one another.  They came to me and told me how they had no idea I had noticed.  They wanted to share more because they were so happy to hear I noticed their behaviors and choices in the classroom.  I even walked to my desk to find notes from my students that left me smiling ear to ear.  

The results I got have turned a frustrating, at times, day into a pleasent day(s).  We have had fun as a classroom community and we have started listening to one another again.  My kids needed to know their value in our classroom and know that they were noticed for their individual strengths.  I will certainly do this again... only sooner!