1. Bought and gave teacher friend an extra gift from the Teacher Conference trip
Her art room is right across the hallway from where one of my music rooms that I teach out of. So for the past several years, we have grown accustomed to each other. Shared our lives, tears, smiles, stories, supplies, and such. She is a really great person to be around. However, on occasion we both can have our 'crabby' days - so I bought her a magnet that made a humorous joke about this feeling. I figured that she can have it on display whenever she needs to. Just to make her smile and laugh, even if it last only a few seconds.
2. Gave cookies to volunteer office helper
This elderly woman is one of my favorite people that is at my school. Yes, she has wisdom and grace - but the most important thing that I like about her is the fact that she is completely honest and comes up with these 'one liners' - hysterical! She's not mean, but very kind and firm. She reminds me a lot of my great aunt from Ireland, probably the reason why I like her so much. Anyway, she recently made me a whole bunch of copies and laminated a lot of my stuff in order to take on my trip. I just wanted to get her something small to let her know how much I appreciate her help.
3. Complimented a student based on their shirt
I have brown eyes - so no color shirt really accentuates this fact - except for maybe a brown shirt - but then I look like a chocolate bar. However, it always impresses me when a person that has special colored eyes (blue, green, hazel) wears a colored shirt that makes their eyes look even more spectacular. For example, my son has the most amazing blue eyes - so I tend to buy him a lot of blue shirts for this reason. He's a boy, so it is almost impossible to buy him any clothes that doesn't have a tinge of blue in it somewhere. But this particular student has green eyes and when she showed up for class with a green shirt - wow! You could see her eyes for a mile and then some. The best thing is that when I complimented her, she smiled and then her eyes began to sparkle. Really pretty!
4. Cleaned up books and paper in school's library
Again, trying to model for other students in how it is everyone's responsibility to keep things clean.
5. Brought in extra treats for my students
Since I was out for a couple of days last week, I wanted to surprise my students with extra cookie treats to reward their good behavior.
6. Let another teacher borrow a vase for flowers for his wife
It was his wife's birthday and he got flowers for her prior to coming into school so that he could go straight home and celebrate - very thoughtful. The only problem is that he forgot to pick up a vase to put the flowers in while he worked for the day. No problem, I have plenty in my room.
7. Gave extra brownies to the custodian who cleaned my room while I was away.
I always fear that if I ever have to take a day off from teaching, that my one room will look like a tornado when I return. If you haven't noticed the theme yet - I am a particular tidy person (ok, I'm OCD), and I like how my room is kept very clean and organized. I work with a lot of students that their home life is very similar to Tornado Alley - so, if I can provide them a sense of comfort through structure, organization, and cleanliness - I'm perfectly happy with this. Having a very organized room really does help my ADHD kids because it sets the tone of focus. Anyway, the one custodian did such a marvelous job in keeping up with the tidiness of my room. I just wanted to get him something extra to show that I really appreciate his extra efforts.
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