Celebrating Each Student

I no longer wanted my students to blend in. I wanted to see my students as individuals
again and feel as though they are each being seen by me and their peers. So I started star of the
week with my students. Each week I pull a name out of my jar and name her or him star
of the week. I was nervous at first my students wouldn’t be into it, but to my surprise
the kids love it and are yearning for the day that they are chosen!

I have set time out of my schedule three days a week where we do something
as an entire class to show the star student how special they are and how much they mean to us.
On Monday I have the star student come in and present a poster and bring in three things that give
us a glimpse into who they are outside of the classroom. The pride and the joy I see from my kids as
they get up and share about themselves has been amazing to watch.

On Wednesdays I have my students write letters to the star student.
The quality of the letters has definitely improved as we have progressed through the weeks.
We have been working on finding the good in everyone and writing things that are meaningful
to our peers. This has helped my students get to know each other better, because I have them
interview the star student first. I have everyone gather on the carpet and ask questions about to the
star of the week that they did not know before. This has helped students to see similarities with each
other. Also to get to know students they do not usually spend time with outside of my classroom.

Friday is a special day for the star student. I put all the letters that their peers wrote to them inside
of a binder with a special note from me that they get to keep and take home.
We then have the star student sit on a chair in front of the white board. And the students go up
and write positive messages to them. I wanted to incorporate this into my plans for star of the week,
after I went to a workshop that was on building relationships with students. Toni Sense is the one who
showed how she incorporated it into her classroom and I made it work to fit my group of kids.

This has been a wonderful addition to my classroom.
The students are eager to ask questions about their peers and are willing to try and get to
know each other. This has helped to build peer relationships and allow me to learn more about my
students. I feel that I have strengthen my relationships with each of the students on a more personal
level.