This month, I will share the final set of activities we have implemented with our staff. My hope is that something I share will spark an idea that you can apply within your own school/district.
- End of the Semester Good News Card Drawings
- Each month teachers are asked to send ten Good News Cards to students. At the end of each semester, we have drawings for our students to win prizes. After the student drawings, we also have drawings for teachers to win prizes as well. Obviously, the more Good News Cards you have written, the better your chance of winning. The Good News Cards allow staff to make positive contacts with parents.
- “You’ve Been Mugged”/“You’ve Been Elfed”
- As we began to see our culture improve, we began to see staff start taking initiatives to promote our positive school culture as well. One example of this is the “You’ve Been Mugged” and “You’ve Been Elfed” activities. A staff member receives a mug or stocking, depending on the activity, with goodies inside of it. That staff member is then asked to place an “I’ve been mugged” note on their door, refill it, pass it along to another staff member, and the cycle continues. Staff members cannot receive the mug/stocking twice. We still do not know who started this activity in our building, but we have enjoyed the activity very much.
- Teacher Early Release Day
- The teacher early release day is not one built into our school calendar. Our district calendar does not have these type of days included. The assistant principal and I supervise the students, providing activities for them in the gym. During this time, we allow teachers (from whichever grade level we are supervising) to leave early. The amount of time is typically about 45 minutes, but is greatly appreciated by our staff.
- Teacher’s Pet of the Week
- On our school website, we highlight a teacher’s pet(s) each month. Teachers send in pictures of their pet(s) and we place them on our website. This allows students the opportunity to get to know our staff members better and provides staff members the opportunity to show off their pets. It also entices more individuals to visit our school’s website.
- End of the Year Awards
- These are fun awards that we present on the closing day for staff. Throughout the year, I will hear about funny stories about several of our staff members. These stories quickly become “End of the Year” awards. Each award has a creative and funny name. I present the “lucky” staff members with their certificates on closing day. I have seen these certificates posted in classrooms. One year, I had to postpone the awards an extra day and I had a teacher ask, “What about our End of the Year awards?”
Next month, I will begin to share activities we have implemented with our students to improve our school culture.