When I was a teacher, calling home for positive contact was THE priority at the start of the year. I knew that building the relationships with parents was just as important as building that bond with students. No one asked me to do this, but each year my goal was to call all parents of students I served by the first couple weeks of school. If you do the math, as a middle school teacher, that was a lot of phone calls. But, the time I invested in these efforts at the beginning of the year paid in dividends as the year went on. At the start of the school year, each day on my to-do list, I planned out of which families I would call to welcome them and their child into my class, while also sharing something positive I noticed about their child within my first few days or weeks of getting to know them. I cannot tell you how many parents shared with me that my positive call was the first positive phone call they EVER received on behalf of their child. This feedback gave me the fuel to keep my tradition alive and strong. Every parent and every child deserves to know that someone at school cares about them.
When I transitioned to an assistant principal, I knew I wanted to continue a legacy of calling home for the positive because I understood its importance. As many of us know from being leaders, our jobs and daily routine are jam-packed with discipline, meetings, supervision, and other administrator tasks that can be demanding and time-consuming. Therefore, as principals, we have to be purposeful to ensure we are building time on the edges and within our school day to focus on the good. I have seen, through experience, that pointing out the good in kids, helps us see the good that is all around us. Great things are often happening in more places that we give credit for.
Last year, I created a Positive Office Referral form that I started using for students that I spotted doing awesome things. It could be students who I saw consistently saying hi to others, being kind, helping peers in need, doing the right thing when no one was looking, making growth, and more (Feel free to click the link to make a copy and adjust for you!). This year, we are now using the same Positive Office Referral Form across our school, which has been very neat to see. I continue to acknowledge students I see who are soaring, but now teachers or staff members can also nominate students for a positive office referral.
Each time I call down a student to my office to praise them for their positive office referral, it probably makes my day even more than it does the student or their family. The light in their eyes when they hear and read what another staff member wrote about them or hear their parent or guardians reaction to the amazing news is truly and completely priceless. I smile just to see them smile.
As simple as it sounds, small gestures of praise and encouragement go such a long way for our families. My challenge for you is to no longer use time as a barrier from calling home to share the good. If you have enough time to call home to share what is going wrong, you have enough time to share what is going right. Find the time. Whether you start your school day before school to call home for a positive reason, find 5 minutes in your plan time to call home, or make it your Monday after-school tradition-Know that your time you are committing to this will be invested in your students and in their families.
I see time and time again that we focus on the blessings we have within our school, that we find more abundance over time. Are there going to be bad days and moments that bring us down? Yes! But, is there still good to find around us even in those tough times? ABSOLUTELY! Those tough times and days that exhaust you are even more reason to call home for the positive. Not only will you lift the spirits of families, but you will lift up your own. All-in-all, This I know for sure: A happy life as an educator is what you make of it.
