More Morale Boosting Fun

Angie Seiders, a principal in Newport News (VA), has several morale boosters that she uses throughout the school year. In her new book, People First: A School Leader’s Guide to Building and Cultivating Relationships with Staff, she talks of giving teachers an extra Payday (candy bar) or a 100 Grand (another aptly named candy bar) for extra effort. She gives her spin on ideas she has adapted or come up with on her own from hosting the Staff Emmy awards to toasting the faculty each year with sparking cider. Her back to school faculty work weeks are themed for fun and focused on what is good for kids and the school. She has played KC and the Sunshine band “that’s the way I like it” as images of good instructional practices scroll on a PowerPoint at the start of a faculty meeting. There is even an egg hunt (see excerpt). This is just the tip of the iceberg—there is about 90% more to go in ideas of building relationships – morale is just a part of the equation. The book addresses leadership components of: vision, communication, team sense, and influence.

The following excerpt from Chapter 3 of People First, is of one morale booster that has become a tradition in Seider’s school.
For teacher appreciation week, a theme was identified for each day of the week. The first day on the calendar was: Do Rams lay eggs? (The school’s mascot is a Ram). The secretaries hid eggs with donated prizes and gift cards around the school. At the faculty meeting that afternoon, the teachers found out their school’s mascot did lay eggs. They went on an egg hunt around the building (egg hunting participation was optional). The teachers loved it – it is what Covey, an inspirational speaker, calls a win- win situation. I got on the intercom and announced that Mrs. Smith just found a $10 gift certificate to the teacher’s store, etc. The teachers were excited, it was fun to watch, and the hunt was a welcome stress reliever. Administrators, be aware as sometimes a hallway referee is needed as teachers can get competitive, since school rules still apply-- there should be no running in the halls! After a few years of doing a school wide scavenger hunt using plastic eggs, I was thinking about doing something different. However, after overhearing a teacher’s conversation about how they look forward to it every year and my secretary telling me that there was no way I was changing, I smiled as I realized that we had what is now a school tradition on the first Monday of teacher appreciation week.

Now for the rest of the story, the book – People First- is a wonderful example of collaboration (my biased opinion) as I am one of the co-authors. Angie and I taught at the same school in 1995 and remained friends since. The book is practice meets research. Angie would tell me the things she was doing to raise student achievement and enhance her faculty. I’d tell her that she needed to share her ideas more broadly. It is a book full of real examples and do-able ideas with a dash of research. Angie was most of the ideas and her other co-author and I identified the evidence that supported why various approaches worked to raise student achievement, improve school climate, increase faculty capacity, etc.