Impactful:
Cheer on your child! Sounds like a “no brainer”, doesn’t it. I was recently reminded of a theory I used to help develop a praise-encouraging system in my physical education class back in my teaching days. The theory, referenced here, indicates that humans need five positive interactions in order to outweigh the effects of one negative interaction. The system I developed as part of my PE curriculum was called, “Positive Laps”. At the beginning of each school year I would inform my students about the details of the system including the rules and the expectations. In summary, I could select any student I wanted to at the beginning of each period. I would not share my selection with anyone in the class, therefore, the student I selected remained unknown to all parties present except me. The goal was for that student to state, out loud, to their peers in the class, at least 10 positive things throughout the period. At the end of the period, if I had not heard at least 10 positive statements from this individual, students ran laps around the gym for however many short of the goal (10) they were. If this was the case, the student remained a secret as to not provoke any kind of negative retaliation from their peers. However, if the selected student succeeded and reached the goal of 10 positive statements, I would announce with enthusiasm and excitement who the student was and all of us would celebrate with rounds of applause and high fives. My theory was that because my selection was unknown to all, then all students would need to follow through on being extraordinarily positive towards one another every day. They never knew what day they were going to be selected. The goal, of course, from a teacher’s perspective, was to create a culture of positivity.
The short jog at the end of a failed opportunity to be extraordinarily positive each period was a reminder to my students of how critically important it is for us to check our attitude on a regular basis. I’m choosing to reference and share this today as I believe it’s good to be reminded of how we, as parents/guardians, should interact with the developing adolescent brain. School is stressful and there is a lot on our student’s plates. Please consider this an encouragement to mix in sharing how proud you are of your student’s successes in greater numbers than their shortcomings. I’m a believer in feedback, both positive and negative, but ensuring we are building up, not tearing down, is critical to the development of our future!
Finally, I’m reminded of the fact that my mom and dad continue to cheer me on to this day. Even though I’m 42 years old, I am still their child. We are all someone’s child and if we are to succeed in life, we need cheerleaders for all the ups and downs we encounter while here.
Practical:
The holiday season is here! We hope you had the opportunity to spend some time with family and friends during our extended Thanksgiving weekend at the end of November! The month of December is always a “buzzing” month at Spectrum High School. We hope you are able to make it out tonight for our Winter Fine Arts Band concert. Additionally, we hope you can join us on Friday, December 8th for our Winter Fine Arts Choir concert. Mrs. Pallin (band), Mrs. McGorry (band), Ms. Peiffer (choir), Mrs. Sundberg (choir), and all of our music students have been busy preparing for these very entertaining events.
As always, thank you for the opportunity to work with your student(s). We are extremely fortunate to have a community of families at our school that we can count on in the journey of education.
Weeks-at-a-glance:
- Monday, December 4th: No School - Professional Development Day
- Wednesday, December 6th: Athletic Eligibility Warnings issued
- Friday, December 8th: Winter Fine Arts Choir Concert @ 7 pm
- Tuesday, December 12th: Info & Tour Night @ 6:30 pm