I love having a designated area of my room where I can see the "giggles" of the day. It helps me keep a positive attitude, stay in good humor, and count my many blessings. It also helps me remember that I am ultimately here for the students (not the paperwork!).
Last year I just threw a piece of construction paper inside my cabinet door and wrote with markers, or posted post-it notes with my "giggles." The year before, I had a paper mounted on the whiteboard by my desk. I'm not sure what form this will take this coming school year, but maybe something a little more sophisticated (?!).
Here are some of the highlights from last year :)
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| All around this page I posted all of the artwork I received throughout the year. This is inside my stand-up cabinet so I see it when I grab materials or an assessment kit...and smile a bit! |
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| This depicts a student taking a computer-based assessment. Each question was draining and time consuming for him, so he would do this 'victory pose' at the end of each answered question! (...it was a looonng testing session!) |
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| Pointing to a picture when giving vocabulary assessment...I said "what kind of math is this?" (assessment expected answer: addition/plus) Student answered "easy!" (can't blame him--he was a 2nd grader!)....Then, he named the "totem pole" as "art" and that just made me smile! |
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| Speechies can appreciate this one! The game? Matching. The objective? Articulation (k/g!) With this said, the gauntlet was thrown! |
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| (It's heart is beating.) He was very excited about the heartbeat! |
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| OK, both me and the student were snickering after he said this one (working on s-blends). Picture: SKUNK :) |
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| How many times have we heard this when we walk into a classroom to grab our next group of students? It's a little heartwarming that we can be so popular with the non-speech students! ("Darn it..she never takes me!") |
Do you have any visuals you use to remind you to count your blessings? If not, I challenge you to try it this year!
