As the new semester begins, here is an easy way to affirm your students and to keep yourself focused on the positive, simultaneously creating evidence that can document your fulfillment of a variety of indicators on your teacher evaluation.
Create a "celebration blog" on your class website, class Facebook page, or weekly newsletter to parents. It is as easy as making a New Year's resolution, and it takes about two minutes a day. Follow these steps:
- Intentionally look for one particular outstanding moment each day. The moment should involve a student and could be academic, social, or progress-based. It might be an answer, a comment, a kind gesture, an improvement, or anything that makes you remember why you got into this profession.
- Write one or two sentences about it, using only gender pronouns and no other identifiers of the specific student. Make sure you put the date at the beginning of your one or two sentences for purposes of specificity.
- Post the celebration in whatever venue works best for your class and technology access. I post on my school website, newest celebration at the top of the list with approximately two weeks of recent celebrations still displayed.
- Offer the students either a couple points extra credit or some privilege or a prize if they recognize themselves being praised and communicate that recognition to you however you specify, within one week of the posted celebration. I require that my students write me an e-mail and say which date's celebration they were referencing, explaining briefly what they did that they think is being praised. This makes them write, and it also discourages any pretenders who just want to try for the bonus I offered and who think they can pull one over on the forgetful old lady teacher!
- Students are excited to look for themselves in the celebrations.
- Those students who find themselves being celebrated and make the effort to write to you about where and why they think they are being celebrated get a little writing practice and get a little reward.
- While students look for themselves in the celebrations, they see many different people and actions being praised, and they become convinced that goodness is everywhere and that you are always looking for it.
- Parents realize you are focusing on the positive and are supporting your students.
- You yourself will get so trained to be hunting for the celebration of the day that your mindset will shift upward, which is the right direction!
- You have automatic documentation relating to communication, feedback, creating a positive classroom culture, and many other possible indicators for your evaluation: take a screenshot of the celebrations and show off your collective awesomeness!
Examples:
1/4: When one student dropped her books, another squatted down to pick them up. Helper, your goodness is gorgeous.
1/5: I was enchanted by the fluent reading from a student who once told me he never liked to read out loud. Sir, your voice is mesmerizing, and you transported us today.
1/6: Wow to the student who improved a vocabulary quiz score by two whole letter grades! You are using the study tools we discussed, and now you see what a difference they can make.