Positive Post-It Day

About a week ago, this showed up in my Facebook feed:

I saw that it had to do with bullying, so I clicked on it, and was inspired to do a little bit of my own positive post-it’ing.

So the next day, I went around to every classroom I work with, and I left each teacher a positive post-it. I left notes on computer screens and in plan books, on doors, and stuck to chairs. (I wish I had taken more pictures!)

Here’s the thing. Figuring out what to write was easy. I love the teachers at this school. I have boatloads of nice things to say to them. Leaving them a post-it, however, was not easy. At all. As I went from classroom to classroom, I was nervous. I was afraid that teachers would read the notes and think, “That’s pretty lame,” or “Huh? That’s weird.” I have a deep, deep, respect for Caitlyn Prater-Haacke, the student who left a positive post-it on every single one of her classmates’ lockers after she was bullied. It definitely took some serious guts for her to do that. I left post-its for my grown adult colleagues, and well, I’m writing it about it now, aren’t I?

Although I had my doubts, the teachers didn’t think it was lame or weird. Or at least if they did, they covered it up pretty well. During my meetings with the them later in the day I shared the video clip about Positive Post-It Day and invited them to leave positive post-it notes for one another. We also talked about ways to stay focused and positive throughout the school year, and how to encourage students to do the same. I told them how it took a bit of courage for me to leave them notes, and how sometimes it takes a bit of courage to stay positive when things at school feel overwhelming.

In the end, we decided, if we don’t support each other and give each other a little praise now and then… who will?

So, I invite you, dear readers, to try it out! If you do, leave us a comment and let us know how it went! You can also tweet about it with the hashtag #positivepostitday.  You won’t regret it!