White Board Wonderland

Day 23 How did your Attitude of Gratitude work out – tell us about it.

Well, I have to say that the "attitude of gratitude" challenge has been a raging success. When I thought about getting student involvement, I thought immediately about how much they like to write on the board, and since I either use the projector or the easel pad, it was no great loss to give up the whiteboard to student control. 

After the first day, they needed little coaxing. Often first hour reminded me long before the bell that I needed to post the gratitude prompt on the board. Occasionally, something cheeky would appear on the board, and after consulting the urban dictionary, I would erase it between classes.  : )  After all, they are in junior high. One day, the word "root" kept disappearing from the phrase "root beer" and someone would notice and correct it.  For the most part though, their gratitude statements were sweet and endearing and fun, like most junior high kids.  I even got in a few teachable moments for spelling and punctuation, as students were strict about proper rules being followed on the board (if only it transferred to their writing, alas!)

As time went on, more and more teachers' names appeared, and so I shared my gratitude board with the staff via email. Since then, multiple teachers have come in and posted their own gratitude on the board. So it would seem the gratitude is indeed infectious. And I'm feeling happier, just as the gratitude challenge website promised I would.

I really like keeping the whiteboard interactive, and I'm wondering how to modify the prompt for December. Perhaps we could count our blessings?  At any rate, I'm sure we'll think of something to last us until March Madness when the board becomes a Tournament of Books. 

See more pictures at http://mrsjenniferpaulsen.weebly.com/gratitude-challenge