Student Contributor: B. Brattin
Positive notes home can come in many different forms, whether they are premade or hand written. It is a great tool to show your support to students. It shows that the teacher cares and recognizes good behavior from the student and then sends it home so that the parents know their child is recognized as well. This not only makes the students feel supported and cared about, but also makes the parents feel this way too.
Positive notes home should be used when students are showing anything positive during the day that deserves a note home. The note will state the behavior or task that was done by the student and then it will be signed by the teacher before it goes home with the student. Notes or phone calls home usually have a negative connotation, so it is great to change kids’ ideas about them by making them positive notes home. It is important to keep in mind that some kids might be upset if they don’t get a note home when someone else does, therefore as a teacher you must make it clear that everyone will get a note home just not all on the same day and that it is okay. I remember being in 3rd grade and getting my first positive note home, I was so happy. My note home was for helping others during work time, something simple to me but didn’t go unnoticed. It was such a refreshing and amazing feeling to feel important and recognized by my teacher.
Positive notes home fit well in the supportive phase. I chose to place it into the supportive phase because I feel as though it serves as a verbal support system to a child. It shows them you noticed, you cared and want them to share their positive action. When a child feels important and cared for by someone, like their teacher, I believe that shows support from the teacher which is why I think this tool fits best in this phase. This tool could be related to the preventative phase by once the child gets a note home, they will want to keep doing positive acts so that they can get another note home, which can be seen as preventing negative acts. I put this tool under the collaborative and teacher directed theories. I put it under collaborative because the students and teacher can come up with the types of things that deserve notes home. Then I believe it is teacher directed because the teacher creates the notes, decides what the child gets the note home for and what child actually gets the note home that day. This tool shows both student voice and teacher voice in creating the variables that go into the notes home, which are characteristics of collaboration and by the teacher taking charge and making the decision of who gets the note shows the characteristic of teacher-directed theory.
More Information –
Tool Source: My 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Mackey.
This is the right blog for anyone who wants to find out about this topic. You definitely put a new spin on a topic that’s been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!