Hearts

We have a team of teachers at school called the PBS team.  PBS stands for Positive Behavior Support.  We track student behavior; promote positive character; represent our grade level team at meetings; etc.  This year, we decided to start providing positive support for staff members too.  This month, we've started passing out paper hearts.  Our team leader punched out construction paper hearts and put them in a container in the office.  All staff members are encouraged to write positive messages to other staff members on these hearts and leave them in the receivers mailbox.  When you receive a heart message, you post a blank heart on the wall in the main hallway.  It's pretty darn cool to see how long that chain has grown in the past few weeks!  It's also pretty darn cool to be the receiver of a heart.  To get this project started, each member of the PBS team was "assigned" 5-6 employees that they were to give hearts to.  This was a little tricky.   I wanted my hearts to be meaningful, but I had people that I rarely see other than just passing in the hallway.  Included in my first batch of "assigned" hearts were a teammate, 2 teachers that I rarely see, 1 para that I rarely see, and the lady that scans lunch cards.  My teammate was easy.  As a matter of fact, I could have easily filled a dozen hearts with all the positive things I could say about her.  The 2 teachers and the para were a little harder.  I had to make it a point to get into their part of the building and watch them so I could make their hearts specific to them.  The lunch lady was the hardest of all.  After watching her (and her colleagues) for a few days, I learned that it takes a VERY special person to be a lunch lady!  I completed my "assignment" and felt great about what I'd done - not only had I shared a positive message with someone, but I'd also learned something about them in the process.  Score 1 for paper hearts!  I've also received several hearts which is also a nice surprise.  Some have come from my teammates.  These are the people in the building that I work with every day and that know me better than anyone else at work.  Their messages have been very supportive and encouraging and I've loved reading them.  Some have come from colleagues that I don't often see.  They mention things like the patience they see me exhibit with Levi as we complete our daily routine on the way from the bus to my classroom.  These put a smile on my face because I still don't feel like a very patient person, yet they're praising me for being so patient.  I got  a very simple one from a colleague saying "thank you" for something that I'd done for them.  Those of you that know me, know how much I like hand-written thank you's!  I've even gotten a heart from the boss.  I asked her a question that she wasn't sure about the answer to so she later wrote me a heart saying that she liked that I keep her on her toes.  It probably sounds dorky to you, but I love walking into the office to check my mailbox and seeing that I have a new heart.  The message on it is always such a day brightener.  Score 2 for paper hearts!  At some point in the next few days, you should send a heart! You'll be amazed by how much a little positive reinforcement can boost a persons spirit and productivity!