A Chain Reaction of Positivity

“A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.” — Wade Boggs

November, the month of giving thanks and remembering all the great things in our lives. Recently, my instructional coach introduced a way for us to recognize the people we work with and remind them they are powerful. It is called “The Positivity Challenge” Origins of the positivity challenge aren't clear cut, but can be traced to Montclair State University’s 21- day positivity challenge. The challenge is amazing, but one part has taken root and spread across the country- to acknowledge someone who has done something positive that you want to elevate. Our Instructional coach decided we should do this more than 21 days, she decided we would do this all year. She explained that a person is elevated through our staff schoology group for something they've done that is positive. Then, that person finds another person and elevates their positive actions. This continues for as long as you like, 21 days or the whole year. The effects of the challenge so far has been to elevate moods, increase motivation, and remind people of something or someone that is good. It changes the focus from negative or stressed to more positive and happy. , If you are looking for a great, simple way to express gratefulness and boost motivation in your staff, try starting the positivity challenge.

For a whole school and community boost, try starting a challenge of some sort. You could introduce the positivity challenge as a whole school challenge. Another thing to start is similar to what an English teacher at our school is trying. She is using Instagram to take a picture of a book that she is reading and where she is. For example, she took a picture of her book at the Broncos game and posted it to Instagram. Her students have started following her and adding their books and where they are reading. She has also asked the staff to post to her challenge as well. She is calling it the #Readingeverywhere Challenge. So, when they post, the hashtag is how they post it to that discussion thread. This not only increased reading in her class, the students are excited to see what the teachers are reading as well. It has led to great discussions and book lists.

So, this November think about different ways of promoting new or forgotten ideas in your learning communities-or steal these ideas to build a stronger community of positive interactions.