Small Wins, Big Joy: Celebrating Success in the Classroom

The end of the school year can feel hard and cumbersome; after all, we’ve spent time thinking about and planning for students; we’ve arranged and rearranged our classrooms; we’ve thought and rethought our behavior management plans; we’ve talked with parents and families; we’ve considered the data; we’ve met with our PLCs; we’ve done so many things. And, we’re tired.

As we enter these last few weeks of school, one of my favorite ways to round out the year is to think with teachers and with students about successes they’ve experienced. I love this strategy for many reasons: focusing on the goodness helps us remember all we’ve accomplished; foregrounding the successes helps us move into a space of problem solving for other challenges; acknowledging the wins helps us shift from a pathological perspective to a growth mindset; celebrating the successes inspires us to keep moving forward.

I have two resources that I use with folks to strategically support the work of recalling and celebrating success: National School Reform Faculty’s Success Analysis supports participants in identifying a success, and then, through collaborative triads, analyzing that success by considering what made that event different from others. By sharing, analyzing, and celebrating successes with colleagues, we can feel both affirmed in our work and empowered to use the skills to spawn even more opportunities for growth.

My newest favorite resource for celebrating success is Celebration Share, which also comes from the National School Reform Faculty. This protocol supports groups in thinking individually about successes, building collective lists of successes, and then reflecting on those lists to see what might be discerned from them.

I had a friend who once reminded me that we need to write down our wins, and she was right. Seeing our successes opens a gateway for future success.

This article has been contributed by the APP Regional Coaching Team.

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