Just Say "NO" to Resolutions and Say "YES" to Daily Attainable Goals!

If you are reading this you are most likely a teacher and have either just finished your relaxing break or returned to work a few days ago. In my case, this is my last day off before returning to my normal schedule. I am a bit worried about how my body will respond to me getting up early and most especially, the lack of delicious adult beverages I consumed each day while off work! My pants are tighter than ever and I went to bed past midnight for 14 days straight. (I can thank Hulu and Netflix for that.) All of these factors mean that it is the perfect time for me to do some goal setting. 

Many people like to start the new year off by setting some realistic (or sometimes not) goals for the new year. This year I have decided to switch things up a bit and I am goal setting differently. I hope it will help you and your students too. Don't get me wrong, I still have long term goals that I would like to see happen. Those goals are important to me, and I keep them in the back of my mind each day. But let's be real here. Most people set a New Year's resolution only to be disappointed the following January because it never came to fruition.  So, I have something new I am going to try this year: Set Daily Attainable Goals.

So, what does this look like? For me, checklists are the easiest way to monitor myself and my goals.
If another format works for you, do it! I have created a spreadsheet for each day of the week for you here. You don't need to use this worksheet, but it can be used as an easy way to organize daily goals for yourself or for your students to write their goals each day.

When setting daily attainable goals for yourself try to set a variety of goals for each day. For example, on Monday, my checklist might look like this:

• Drink at least 4 bottles of water.
• Take at least 6,000 steps.
• Stay focussed and answer emails before I leave from work.
• Get new coaching appointment schedule created.

I will just jot these down on a post it and check them off as I complete them, or I will use the worksheet I created. The point is to see your actionable goals being accomplished each day. You won't believe how great you will feel at the end of the day and how focussed you will be on reaching your daily goals. If you want to take this further, you could create a weekly, monthly, or yearly checklist for your short term to long term goals. Make it work for you!

Goal setting isn't just for adults. Students who set goals for themselves and list out steps to achieving those goals will also make huge gains and have a great feeling of self-worth. Your students could do this first thing in the morning and set a personal kindness goal like "compliment someone on their hard work" and "work on my stamina during reading." They can have one goal or as many as they want. This is also a great time to re-cover class agreements that were made at the start of the year and make necessary changes. When setting goals as a class make sure it is measurable so students can get specific feedback on how they are doing with meeting the class goal. Visual thermometers are a great way to show students how they are progressing towards meeting their class goal as a team.

Are resolutions a bad thing? No way, but they are something that many people do. Do you know how much money has been spent on gym memberships of individuals that have only gone into the gym once or twice? I actually don't know the statistics on this, but I am guessing the gym owners are the ones with the huge smiles by the end of the year. At least in my case they were. So say "NO" to resolutions that are hard to keep  and say "YES" to setting daily attainable goals! What kind of goal setting do you do? How do you make sure you stick to those goals? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

A Teacher's Guide to Surviving the Week Before Holiday Break

T'was the week before holiday break... 

...and all through the school, the kids were super hyper while the teachers tried to keep their cool. The coffee bar was stocked full of strong winter brew, with lots of chocolate and candy to get teachers through. Administration and crisis team had walkie's on and ready to go, preparing for the worst, but hoping it wouldn't be so. The nurse and custodian were prepared too, flu season had come and they knew just what to do. The secretaries were ready with fast hands on those phones, to get the back up guest teacher, good 'ole Mrs. Jones. Teachers were creatively mixing fun with required, finishing up the grading period, and feeling quite tired.  Secret Santa gift giving had started among staff, with little gifts and sneaking around, causing some people to laugh. So, how does this school remain so positive and at ease? They followed these survival tips and it was a BREEZE!

Survival Tip #1- It's OK To Take A Break

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This goes for you and for your students. While you are feeling rushed and hurried and stressed about getting your end of quarter grades done and holiday shopping complete, the kids are also feeling the stress and rush of it all. If you are feeling overwhelmed, take a few minutes before the kids come into your class to listen to quiet music, relax and set your intention for the day. When you see your students are struggling to focus. Stop your lesson. Give them a minute to turn and talk, stretch their legs, or even jump onto www.gonoodle.com for an energizer or a soothing refocus activity. If you are feeling like you are getting frustrated or can't focus, tell your students you need a brain break and put on some quiet music and let them have 5 minutes of quiet free time for drawing, reading, writing as long as they are quiet. Brainpop and Youtube have lots of short educational videos you can even put on to just have a few minutes to regroup.

Survival Tip #2 Plan Ahead!



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Of course you have a plan for your week, but how thorough is that plan? Do you have your materials out and organized? Is that holiday craft sorted and ready for students? Do you know what assessments you will use and which ones you won't? What are your Learning Targets and Success Criteria? The more you have organized ahead of time, the less instructional time lost. This is the week your students will not be able to be quiet during transitions. They will be chatty in the hallway, they will be chatty at their desks. Plan in opportunities for movement and talk. Put the students in charge of their own learning. This is NOT the week to have long transitions between activities while you gather the materials for the next class or lesson. YOU WILL LOSE THEM! Have everything plus extra planned out and ready. Keep the pace quick and engaging and make what they are learning fun.

Survival Tip #3 SMILE



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There is a ton of research on the impact of a smile. A simple smile can brighten someone else's day. A smile goes a long way in making others feel better, but it surprisingly does wonders for your own emotional health too. Try it now, while you are not feeling impatient or frustrated, to see the impact. Put on your biggest, most fake smile, and try to leave it there for as long as you can. If you can, take a silly selfie or get on Snapchat and send a pic to a friend. Next time you are angry or feeling yourself get frustrated, put on your biggest most fake smile and stick with it for a few minutes. It works! I do this regularly, and even though I may look silly or feel strange doing it, it has helped to change my mindset in the moment. Teach this trick to your students when you see one or more that may need it. You'll be so happy to hear the giggles from your class.

Survival Tip #4 Remember, You May Be The Best Part of A Student's Day



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Sometimes the student that drives you the most crazy, is the same student that needs you the most. We don't know what happens when our students leave our room each day, but based on the stories they tell us, we know it isn't the same for everyone. If they are lucky, they go home to loving, caring homes where they are cared for and have everything provided to them. Sadly though, many of our students don't go home to this at all. They go home to a place of stress and chaos. So many of our students will be alone at home over break, due to both parents working or parents not being able to afford daycare.  Knowing this can cause anxiety in many students. They like the structure you provide them and they know they get breakfast and lunch every day at school. They know someone is there to listen to them and guide them. This week, those students, the ones that get to you the most at times, need you the most. They need to know you will be thinking about them. They need to know that is is ok that their traditions may not be the same as everyone else's in the classroom. Most especially, they need to know that you will miss them. Make this clear to them during this week.

Survival Tip #5 Get Involved With Staff Activities




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Does your school do a Secret Santa, ornament exchange, staff lunch, or Ugly Christmas Sweater competition? If they have any activities that help you to bond as a staff, this is the week to jump on board. Everyone is feeling overwhelmed and wants to just get through these last few days. Lord help us if we have a full moon on top of it all. For me, family obligations and my long drive have gotten in the way of me participating in Happy Hour or after school events up through now, but these are things I can participate in while I am at work. Giving small gifts to someone and seeing the smile on their face, or hearing how much they enjoyed trying to figure out who their person is helps to build relationships with your co-workers. If that's too much for you, or it is too late, jump on board for the Ugly Christmas sweater competition, or the staff luncheon. It is a time for you to all talk and laugh and share what you will be doing over break.

I hope these 5 easy tips will get you through this last week before break. I wish you the happiest of holidays! Enjoy your time with family and friends. Drink, relax, and rest up for the last half of the school year!

Promoting Kindness in the Classroom

November is the time of year when most people stop and take a moment to be thankful for the wonderful things in their life. It is usually a time when teachers have students write about what they are thankful for too. But, what happens during the other months of school? Are you promoting kindness and gratitude throughout the school year, or mostly in November? This post is to help you to continue the gratitude and kindness throughout the entire school year. 

Last year I read a lot about promoting kindness in the classroom. I tried to find activities that would help my students to be thankful each day and also to be kind to one another. The little steps I took made a difference in my class, and in how I felt each day coming to work. I hope a few of these tips and resources will help you along the way too. 

The first step is practicing gratitude on your own and modeling it for students. Develop a routine with students where each day you have what you are thankful for written on the board or in a morning message to students. Each day on my board, I had three words of the day such as, "Always be kind!" or "Do your best!". Under that I wrote what I was thankful for. It could be as simple as, "I am thankful I woke up on time today." or "I am thankful to hear you listened so well for the guest teacher." Students would enter the room, and write their own thankful statement as part of the morning routine. I had them do this in their assignment notebooks so parents could see them, but some teachers prefer to have a worksheet that students add to each day. I created one for you that you can use. The first page is for a daily gratitude and the second page is for a once a week reflection. 

Link to free template

This could also be part of the sharing portion of your morning meeting once a week, or at the end of day meeting. Some teachers do Friday letters to families and this could be added to that. Also, I suggest having a place in your classroom where students can reflect and thank others. I had a "Reflection Board" which was used as a parking lot for questions to me, questions to the class, compliments for others, or compliments for the class. It was a great place for me to see students' thoughts and ideas and a great way for students to share. I got the white board sheets in a roll from the Dollar Store! 

Another thing you can do to promote kindness in the classroom is to have students recognize one another for being kind. They need to hear it from their peers as well as you. I had a Boogie Board like this in my classroom that my students loved to use instead of their whiteboard each day. In the beginning of the year, I modeled how I chose a student for the day by giving specific feedback to that student for why they earned the Boogie Board. "Natalie is earning the Boogie Board today because she showed perseverance during math yesterday when the problems got tough for her." Soon, students were ready to nominate a peer that they had also seen being a visible learner in the classroom. I just used an old pencil box and students once a week would nominate another student to use the board. When I pulled a name, the student who was the nominator said why they nominated that person. Sometimes there would be 3-5 students who nominated the same person and they would all share why they nominated the student who received the board. You should have seen the pride the nominee showed by hearing the compliments about their work. To prevent the same students from getting the board each week, I kept a checklist and each week students who were not nominated could have their names put into the pencil box. This way, EVERY student, even those who had a hard time in class with behaviors would be recognized by a peer. 

The third way to promote kindness in the classroom is to use these little templates that I created for the year starting in November. I don't think students know each other well enough to do this earlier in the year, so November is a great time to start. 

Get the template for these HERE.

My rule for these templates is students cannot write, "Thank you for being my best friend." They are also encouraged to look for people who don't have one hung up to find something the could thank them for. I had them in a little basket and students would grab one when they finished work or if they had free time. Once finished, they would hand them to the receiver, and the receiver was the one who got to hang up in the room. I hung mine in rows along the shelves for everyone to see. I sent them home at the end of the month and put out the next month's shape to continue the kindness.


Finally, there are a ton of kindness and gratitude books out there for a read aloud with your students. Click HERE for 13 books that could get you started!


I would love to hear how you promote kindness and gratitude in the classroom year round. Please comment or ask questions below.