Positive Post-It Tuesday and a New Challenge

If you follow me (@Mrs_KFisher) on Twitter you will see that I am pretty active in #edchats and connecting with other educators and education leaders globally.  It has been addicting for me!  My husband just shakes his head when I have my earbuds in listening to a podcast, or when I am feverishly typing in the #edchat of the hour (my favorite is #iaedchat on Sunday nights at 8:00, thanks +Dan Butler +Jimmy Casas and other moderators!).  Ryan is very supportive and even will dive into topics with me when the chat is over!

Last weekend I was thumbing through Twitter when I read an education challenge posted by +Tony Sinanis (he is an elementary principal at #Cantiague in New York).  Obviously I have never been given the opportunity of meeting Tony, but I heard him speak on #iaedchat LIVE and starting stalking his Twitter feed.  What I stumbled upon was this, Positive Post-It Tuesday!  So I emailed all my colleagues at Van Horne Elementary and some other Twitter faithful ( +Jen Bange +Andrea Townsley) to see if anyone wanted to join!  In true Bobcat spirit the entire VHE staff, Jen, and Andrea joined!  We had post-it notes and positivity flowing everywhere!  Students were writing feverishly, staff were sneaking around so we wouldn't see who left anonymous notes for each other, buckets were not only filled; but were overflowing!  It was amazing!  The students were talking about it with each other at recess, staff were tweeting during lunch, parents were starting to respond with stories they were hearing from home!  Such great energy.

KF kinders working hard on their post-its!

My door, it is even exciting to get them as a teacher!

We put them on student lockers so we were surprised at recess to read our special guest's note!

Mrs. Bridgewater's student lockers...(side-note, aren't her locker tags the coolest?!?!) 

I walked away from school this week feeling very positive and recharged to keep pushing forward these next few months.  But I realized something very sad too throughout this challenge.  We don't spread the positivity enough.  I hear teachers saying great things to kids, but does it outweigh the redirections we give?  I hear students say things to their friends, but how about the new student that started last week...has his bucket been filled lately?  The biggest realization I felt and heard others comment on was that teachers don't fill each other's enough.  We talk all the time about our next endeavor, our reflections on how to make student learning more impactful the next time we teach a lesson, but when are we ever patting each other or ourself on the back?  This needs to happen every day...not just March 31st.  So my new mission for myself is to keep Positive Post-It Tuesday alive and well every day with myself, my students, and my colleagues (and probably my family for being so supportive) because I see how infectious positivity can be!

If you are new to Twitter, or are an educator that would like to start feeling the passionate charge of these education challenges, I encourage you to join in with the #LoveMySchoolDay challenge on Friday, April 10 ( @JohnWink90 ).  For more details check out this link #LoveMySchoolDay