The Power of Appreciation

It's been a while...beginning of the year has gotten the best of me, and I've neglected my blogging.

We have now survived over a full month here at my amazing school. To be perfectly honest, it has gone so much smoother than I could have ever anticipated. I feel so "at home" here. I get at least 100 hugs a day from littles, and high fives from bigs. I'm loving greeting everyone in the morning before school, and sending them off afterwards.

It has been truly fantastic. But my favorite part (obviously, the kids are right up there...) is MY STAFF! They are so incredibly talented, professional, and eager to learn/try new things! I feel so incredibly lucky.

On a recommendation from my former superintendent, I recently finished the book "O Great One" by David Novak. And what a truly powerful message it sends about the power of recognition and appreciation.

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It is told in a narrative form from the perspective of a man trying to turn around a failing company. It was a super fast and fun read. The main character really hones in on uplifting people's spirits and recognizing the efforts they are making. One of the quotes that really resonated with me was "If they don't enjoy working here, if they don't feel appreciated, then how can we expect them to pass those things on to the customers?"

What a perfect connection to education. If staff do not feel appreciated, if they do not feel supported, how can we expect them to make those same connections with kids? It reminded me of that fantastic Rita Pierson Ted Talk "Every Kid Needs a Champion." (see below). In this video, I love the quote, "Kids don't learn from people they don't like." Such truth. But that goes for staff, as well.

Building relationships is incredibly important to me. Relationships with kids, with families, but most importantly, with my staff. I need to truly know them, their histories, their styles, their strengths, if I am going to help them in their own personal growth.

One of the ways I chose to start that in this new position was meeting 1-on-1 all summer long with anyone that wanted to meet with me. I had classroom teachers, special education assistants, custodians, and more! This gave me the chance to learn more about these amazing people in a more relaxed setting, outside of the stress of the school year. It was some of the best time I spent. I learned so much about them personally, but also about this amazing building that I was taking over.

As the year drew closer to beginning, building off of the great book I read, I wanted to give the staff members small tokens of appreciation to begin our year. The start of a year can be so stressful, I wanted to let them know how much I appreciated the long hours and hard work that they were putting in. This was the first thing I came up with:

TEACHER SURVIVAL KIT

I came in on a Sunday and delivered alphabet clipboards and goodie bags to each of their desks, or table, or teacher chair. The clipboards I got in bulk from Positive Promotions. They had a great sale, and I got them for about $1.25 a piece.

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Each goodie bag had the following items:

Most of the items I had or was able to find at places like Target or Walmart. I ended up ordering these small compasses from Amazon.

The response was overwhelming. They were so appreciative of such a small gesture on my part. It was like no one had ever thanked them before, or at least, no one had thanked them in a long time. Another quote from O Great One that connected to this moment was "The problem with common sense, is it's not all that common." How could this amazing staff go unappreciated for so long? How could sending a simple "thank you" e-mail come off as "unheard of" prior to me arriving? It made my heart sad to know that they didn't hear this more often.

On the first day of school, I wanted to do something fun, as well! Thanks to Pinterest, I made these:

Again, something so small and so simple, really was received well by my staff. I was happy to bring a smile to their faces on a stressful day.

Now, that we are a month into school, I wanted to bring in a new "appreciation" idea. I know the staff has been feeling stressed and tired from getting their rooms up and running. The "honeymoon" had worn off for some (for me, too), and we needed a little rejuvenation. Thanks to the amazing Facebook Principal Group I belong to, I took a great idea and made it my own.

FILL THE BUCKET CHALLENGE

I found these great little buckets at Target in their front discount area (damn that place...gets me every time ;). I filled them up with a candle, some stickers, some fun sticky notes, some candy, a pen, and a piece of fruit. I made 5 of these buckets...one for each of my new staff members. It felt appropriate to start there. It is so tough to transition to a new school (what??! What's that like? ;). For some, it is their very first year. In each bucket was also a small card and a note:

I hope that they can pass on this little token of appreciation and fill someone else's bucket!

I know these aren't much. We're principals...we're not made of money! :) But, I truly want my staff to know how much I appreciate them. I am so incredibly blessed to get to do this work. However, I can only do this work, because of them!

How do you show appreciation to your staff? I'd love to learn from you!

Yours in "APPRECIATIONS",

~Angela