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Celebrations

If a picture can sum up a life, I think the picture below does a sufficient job. In my sassy floral pants and my hair curled by these burn-inducing nightmares, I am proudly displaying my Principal's Award upside down. Story. Of. My. Life. This photo has been a huge source of family entertainment for years, but I want to know why the person taking my picture didn't notice this, or maybe they did, and they decided to let it happen for posterity.


Anyways, the reason I thought of this picture was because the year's end is nigh (too much Hamlet). I've been thinking about the ways we celebrate student success as a school and in our classrooms. There are athletic and academic award ceremonies, field trips, dances, class parties, graduations, and more. I love it all. I love how we look back at the end with a sentimentality that doesn't exist at the beginning. I love to see kids get recognized for greatness.

I can't continue without saying that if you've never been to a Carey graduation ceremony, put it on your calendar. I've never seen such an awesome celebration of the transition from 'kidhood' to adulthood. It makes you feel right about the world and the warm fuzzies are abundant. I'm sure this year will be no exception.

There are a few celebrations we do in our classroom. This Wednesday, we will eat food, read reunion letters, and reflect in senior English after presenting their Legacy Projects. I also have an end-of-trimester academic success celebration that rewards students for no missing assignments and good grades. It's also a tricky way for me to give the students who have missing assignments and poor grades some last minute, one-on-one encouragement (nagging) to get stuff done. I also do an end-of-the-year reading party. What I need to think about for next year is how to make celebration a more regular thing. A part of the classroom environment.

A while back in 8th grade English, Mr. Nilsen said something really profound (something about butterflies and cocoons and metaphors...you had to be there). Without any prompting, the whole class broke out into thunderous applause for his words. I need to bottle up what this class has learned to do and sprinkle it on my other classes. Is that possible with older students? Or would the eye rolling and sarcasm take over?

Either way, I propose that there should be more thunderous applause every day (or some other loud appreciation) for a unique idea, a stellar poem, a quiz passed, or a good deed done.  How do you celebrate learning?
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