Staff Recognition 2012 - And So The Process Begins!

I am soooo looking forward to some awesome staff recognition ideas for our upcoming school year. I have been tossing around some thoughts this week, and I think that I am going to go with an Alphabet Soup approach for 12-13. So in addition to our fantastic school theme (Peace, Love, & Lions - it is going to be SO fun for teachers and kids!), I am going to implement various words, activities, etc with a letter of the week plan. (Clearly we will have a few weeks that share the same letter...). For example, for "A", I might have a word like "Attitude", and place quotes about attitude on each table in the lounge. (Last year I placed 5x7 Love & Logic quotes in acrylic frames on the lounge tables each week. They were great conversation starters.). I also might have a little treat, like candy to tie into it. (Idea: Place Your Attitude is the Bomb! on cherry bomb jawbreakers.) Or, I may use a "freebie" incentive: Your Attitude Makes Kids Want to Run Into the Classroom Each Day - Enjoy Sneakers with Jeans Tomorrow. (These are off the top of my head, right now, so they definitely need a little more polishing.) However, I am already waking up in the middle of the night with some light bulb moments!

Recently I contemplated making a serious move in my career, but it turns out that it was not the right fit for me. Now that I have worked through that pros/cons process, I feel totally rejuvenated and 100% committed to our next school year! I am going to have staffing changes across the board - a new staff member on every team and several new teammates on my ATeam. In fact, I purposely hired quite a few first year teachers. That nervous excitement is catching; we will all be training each other and collaborating on new ideas. It is going to be a great year, and the planning starts now!