Positivity Challenge

 "I believe in throwing a lot of positive energy in the universe and hope for the best."

-Vaani Kapoor

These first two weeks of school have been about the most positive two weeks I can remember in quite some time. No doubt, we have had a few very challenging years in a row, and it can be very difficult to stay positive when it feels like so many things are going poorly, but I am excited about what lies ahead for Sullivan Middle School this year. 

Yesterday, I began visiting teachers on their prep period to ask them two simple questions:

1. What is going really well so far this year?

2. What could be going better?

While I have only visited around 25% of the faculty so far, the answers I am getting are extremely encouraging. Most end up giving me multiple things that they feel are going really well without much thought. When it comes to things that could be going better, the answers require more thought, and everything so far has been pretty minor. We will keep working on those things, but I love that people's minds are much more focused on the positive right now. I look forward to carrying that throughout the year.

As we prepare to exit the "Honeymoon Phase" of the school year, I think that two things are going to be very important. One is that we remain vigilant and consistent when addressing student behavior. While this focus on negative behavior seems counter-intuitive to a positive climate, we all understand that these negative behaviors from a handful of students can snowball into a negative atmosphere throughout our building. We need to hold students accountable for behavior that does not meet our expectations. So far, this is being done extremely well (Kudos!). 

The second piece, however, is the piece I want to really ramp up this year, and that is recognizing positive student behavior. This is where I want to challenge each and every one of you over the next two weeks. If we spend two weeks really focusing on recognizing positive student behavior, I think we can create a habit, which will have a tremendous impact on the climate of our building. Encourage students to bring items in for the class brag boards. Actively seek opportunities to send a student to the office with a positive postcard for us to send home. In fact, try to send at least two down over the next two weeks. I want students to see that it isn't simply enough to avoid bad behavior and stay off our radar. We want to encourage them to exceed expectations and know their efforts will be recognized. 

This school year is off to a great start, and I know we can keep making it even better!

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