Positive Encouragment

I headed into my classroom today to do a little more work.  I thought I was getting somewhere last week and then today I had to go through all my books and reorganize this.  We all know this is a tedious task and my books were literally spread out across my entire classroom. O.M.G. That is how I was feeling when I walked out of my classroom this afternoon.

HOWEVER the fabulous news is that when I walked into my classroom today I had this apple bell sitting on my desk with a note.  It caught me by surprise.

 It says "Ashley - Welcome back!  Hope this helps you to ring in the new school year with hope and happiness! :) Lecia  (I already miss you!)

Lecia is a first grade teacher at my school and she used to teach across the hall from me.  She was a really great friend and I got to know her well after teaching her son in second grade.  Since I have now moved into a new building, I am really going to miss her too being right across the hall.

Last year, Lecia was a leader in my eyes.  She would make us different quotes to inspire us and really try to keep us smiling.  Here are a few of the quotes that stay on my desk.

 "Am I the kind of teacher that notices new shoes?"

"Are we feeding the elephant or merely weighing it?"

I want to continue to be a positive leader and role model on our staff this upcoming year.  I think simply encouraging others and keeping other smiling can make a huge difference.  Last year my teammate and I put a sign in the bathroom that really created a lot of laughter at the beginning of last year.  It said, "Smile, you're on candid camera."  We put them anonymously in every bathroom last year!  People could NOT figure out who put it there or if there were really cameras.  It was hilarious!  Don't worry, eventually we told people!

So, what are some things that your staff or buisness does to keep the morale high in your workplace?  I would love to use some ideas to bring to my school to start the year off on a great foot!