How I unknowingly installed a popularity contest in my classroom

Yup... you read the title correctly.  I did that.  I, a loving, caring, kindness oriented teacher, installed a popularity contest in my classroom.  Completely by accident; however, it still happened.

I had seen gorgeous boards on instagram and pinterest and was feeling so inspired to have a magical learning space over the summer.  I had such grand plans for the boards, walls, seating arrangements, etc. in my classroom and I carried them all out!  These plans included my Shout Out board.  A shout out board, for anyone who is unaware, is a board where students can 'shout out' their classmates for doing fantastic things.  We used post-its and read them each week and then started the next week with a clean board ready to be filled.  Sounds amazing right?  What a fantastic way to encourage community, kindness, gratitude.  Except, that not every student was being 'shouted out'.  In fact, there were multiple students who would go weeks without receiving a shout out.  What's worse than not receiving shout outs from friends?  Having your teacher write a pity shout out to you - even if she meant it sincerely, they felt it I'm sure.  I recently read an article about social media for kids, how their worlds revolve around likes and how so many feel constant rejection between school, home, and then the 24-7 world of facebook/instagram/etc.  I realized, I had done this to my own students, and was devastated.

I very quickly came up with a better solution and decided I wanted a self love board instead.  I'd keep the overall look of the board the same, but was planning to replace the words 'Shout Outs' with a new, loving, motivational message each week.  The only other item on the board, would be a mirror.  Instead of students receiving likes from others (or not) I wanted them to receive some like/love from themselves.  Often times we are the most negative to ourselves which shouldn't be the case, and in the positive mindset classroom I was working so hard to build, I forgot to push these boys and girls to be positive with themselves.  I plan on encouraging them to stop at the mirror each day and they can check out the positive message and maybe whisper, or just think, something positive for themselves.  I'll do mine aloud each day so they can get the point and I'm hoping it helps them to think differently about themselves as we move on this school year.

Less popularity contests, more pep talks and love for the Loomis Learners.

Pictures to follow...