Hello! I’m Angela Rodriguez, Clinical Coordinator at the EPIC School in Paramus, New Jersey. I wanted to tell you about a surefire way to boost morale and spread positivity amongst staff.
We recently created a Shoutout Board using Proof Positive’s Character Strengths curriculum for staff (educators and health providers for students with autism) to celebrate, thank and acknowledge their colleagues for a job well done. What a joy it was to witness everyone sharing their positivity and strengths!
Here’s how it works: When a staff member notices a colleague doing something positive, they write the good deed and person’s character strength on an index card and staple it to the bulletin board display. Gratitude and character strengths are meant to be shared. When others see their colleagues’ wonderful characteristics, they are motivated to do more positive things and start noticing the good in their colleagues!
Each acknowledgment is connected to a staff member’s character strength. For example, Teacher 1 gifted Teacher 2 a candy bar as a token of gratitude for covering her class (Gratitude). Or, perhaps an admin shared that it was sunny and everyone should take a five-minute break outside (Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence). Teacher 3 leads their team through problem-solving a scheduling mishap (Perseverance) or Teacher 4 uses Creativity to develop a hands-on lesson plan.
We had multiple shoutouts on the board within the first few hours. The board was initially designed for staff to acknowledge other staff, but students started to join in the fun and recognize their teachers. Talk about spreading positivity!
Learning about character strengths is a way to promote positive emotions. By identifying our strengths and strengths in others, we build confidence in ourselves and those around us. Using the Shoutout Board is a helpful tool because sometimes people don’t realize their strengths, and we build ourselves up by identifying character strengths in each other. Collectively as a school, sharing those character strengths make us stronger together.
When we came together as a whole school last Friday to read the shoutouts to everyone, we could feel a sense of community. Everyone enjoyed hearing what people had to say, and we loved celebrating our strengths and what was RIGHT with us!
Be Well,
Angela
