Hey there leader!
Can I just say how proud I am of your ability to pivot when things get tough. Your willingness to figure it out and lift your community up during one of the hardest times we have ever lead is admirable. The most important factor? You never, ever give up. You’re taking action, you’re making progress, aaaannnnnd you are absorbing whatever comes your way. You’re golden! Even though it may not feel like that sometimes.
Remember, you are exactly where you need to be, even amongst a pandemic that throws curveballs at you every minute (or so it seems).
And I am right there with you. We all are. We are not alone. We will get to the end of this pandemic together. We will make our way back to the clear skies but we do need each other. You know what else we need? Hope, joy, laughter, and energy. When I think of these things that we need, I think of confetti because that is all the things that confetti is made of. Therefore, as leaders we need to figure out a way to implement confettis of hope and joy sprinkled along the way to generate energy for our teachers AND ourselves.
Confetti brings joy, laughter and energy to the room. No matter how you are feeling. That confetti pops and everyone is instantly cheering, laughing, and trying to catch a small piece of the joy from those tiny flecks of color that are raining down.
Confetti reminds me of joy and celebration buuuut the world doesn’t feel like it will ever have an opportunity to celebrate, does it? It feels super heavy right now and we could really use some sprinkles of joy and hope to carry us through. So….for me, finding joy has to look a little different with the purpose of bringing a pop of confetti of small pieces of wellness, energy and hope to the community.
Lately, I have been forgetting about the confetti with all the noise that is happening. I have been working in survival mode, but I realize now that I need to bring that back in my life and within our community. As leaders, we have to look at ways to generate energy not store it. We often look to professional development to generate the energy but when teachers are still shutting down, we have to dig deeper and look elsewhere. They need us and we need them.
Listening to the conversations, wellness and mental health play such a huge part in this time. Everyone is feeling the heaviness and overwhelm that comes hand in hand with hard times and pandemics. Sooooooo….as leaders, we pop the confetti with hopes to ignite a spark of something positive.
Confetti starts with an explosion of 
color but then it separates and each piece floats at it’s own pace and finds it’s way to where it needs to be and who it may need to land on. Everyone needs something different and they will grab the color or piece of confetti that speaks to them but they will still appreciate and enjoy the other pieces that fall in their path too.
A quote that I found that I always tell a teacher when they come into my office feeling overwhelmed is, “Sometimes we just need to believe in ourselves. But, if you aren’t ready to do that yet, let me believe in you for you until you are ready.” That’s what the sprinkles of confetti that you leave throughout the year will help with. It will remind them that you are in their corner. It gives them a reason to laugh, to let go, to believe in hope and joy (even for a second), and to see that they are not alone. That’s how important popping the confetti is! It is a tool in our kit for generating energy. Energy seems to be what we need most right now!
Our leadership team has been working on ways we might pop the confetti and surprise someone by sending out small pieces of joy. I thought I would share what we came up with in this blog post so that you may also pop the confetti throughout the year.
Start with brainstorming some really simple things because you also need to make sure that it is sustainable and not an energy sucker! Here are some suggestions:
Schedule in jean days way more frequently than you already do. It is amazing how a pair of jeans can bring joy!
Leave some fresh smelling, quality handsoap in the staff washrooms. It leaves the room and your hands smelling so fresh. We always use Bath and Body Works because it has the best scents! Your community will loooooove this one and it is so simple.
Break the school out in random dance parties at strategic times of the day where you know that your teachers are probably getting ready to transition. Note: do not do it during prime learning times….otherwise it may backfire. Take requests of songs from classes too so they can hear their favorite songs!
Hold a song request hour during lunch, where teachers and students can call in and request songs to play while they eat lunch.
Gift your teachers with motivational water bottle stickers. They are super affordable and it gives them a little boost every time they drink from their water bottle.
Gift them with handsoap, lotion, written notes, gift cards, chocolate, etc. A little gift or hand written notes goes a long way and makes them realize that you see them, you are listening, and you are rooting for them. This will help them to see that you are in their corner and therefore they will let you in a little more.
Leave a basket of goodies in the bathroom for teachers to use. Things like lotions, underarm deoderant, perfume, etc.
Themed announcements are also fun and can sprinkle confettis of joy to start the day. Give them challenges of habits to do throughout the day:
- write a letter to yourself noticing how amazing you are
- write out a goal that you want to achieve and post it on your door of your classroom
- send a cheer to another classroom
- push a book that kids might love to read with a funny announcement to go with it
- challenge them to find a 5 minute time in the day to meditate
- have a dance party sometime in the day
- slide some inspirational notes under the door of another classroom
- move your body for 5 minutes 3 times today Giving them these little challenges can ignite a school to take action because they have reminders every day. It can be really simple things but they do help to pop the confetti!
Incorporate fun games and challenges throughout the year to include the students. We do two challenges that light up the school.
The first one is done throughout the entire year. It is called the Prize is Right. We play Price is Right music and do themed announcements every Monday and Friday. We leave them with a trivia question that they have to answer and then call the office. If they are the number of caller that we are looking for, they get to come on down and choose a number. We go through a deck of cards counting out that number of cards. We look at what suit that card is in and then they can choose from that suit’s box of prizes. The prizes are usually stuff to decorate or motivate the classroom, board games, gift cards for the entire class, etc. We have four boxes of prizes and each box has better and better prizes.
The next whole school challenge that we do is called Survivor. We usually run this one during December. We play the Survivor music and do survivor themed announcements each day at the beginning and the end of the day. The students love the theme and you can hear the whole school cheering as soon as the song comes on. The morning announcements are setting up the day. The end of the day announcements are talking about who has been voted off the island. The game starts with every class being entered in a draw. Each day we get students to pull a few names and those classes are banished to exhile island. However, they do still have one chance to get back into the game. They have to complete a task that the office set up in order to get back in for one last chance to win Survivor. The tasks might be to play a prank on a principal, sing a christmas carol with interpretive dance moves, make up a new version of 12 days of christmas, eat war heads without making a sour face, etc. The kids and teachers go crazy for it! If they complete the task they are back in the game. The last three names chosen at the end of the month are the winners of Survivor and get whole class prizes. This has been a game changer for generating energy in a school. We even do a little side game with the teachers so they get prizes for themselves! Each teacher has to submit a $20 prize (gift cards or whatever you want to theme your Survivor prize pack with) and as their class names get picked, they also get eliminated from the teacher side of it. So fun!
Ok, I know I gave you a long list of things but the point is to choose one and try it for awhile. Then, choose another. If you are taking the time to generate energy through popping the confetti of hope and joy, you are GOLDEN my friend! Teachers and students will start to see that their mindset and wellness matter and in turn, it will help to lift the heaviness just a little. It will help you too! We all need that right now!
It might look like a jean day, surprise coffee, dance party, fresh smelling hand soap, fun games and challenges, motivational water bottle stickers, a written note, a conversation, or any small piece of colored confetti that might mean spreading hope to someone else. It’s worth it and that tiny piece of confetti matters more than we can ever know. 
. So stay safe my friends and don’t forget to pop the confetti, especially during a pandemic!
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Remember, I am always rooting for you and I am always in your corner!
All my best,
Jacealyn
Even If You Miss..... 
Wow, this was so timely… thanks for the encouragement!
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