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Volume 4, No. 1
Fall/Winter, 2010 Exclusively online at
www.EducationHall.com
Celebrations in School Recently, I had the opportunity to talk to an elementary teacher who described how fellow staff had worked very hard to improve test scores. The hard work had paid off: Test scores had risen over the previous year. Staff members were thrilled at the results. They awaited some form of recognition for their accomplishments. However, the principal never acknowledged to the students or staff how hard they had labored to increase test scores. The morale of the staff, understandably, plummeted. The principal, sadly, had missed as golden a moment as we get in education. The celebration of success never occurred. Are we so driven to increase test scores and demonstrate learning that we have forgotten how to have fun and celebrate? If you believe everything that is written in the press about how badly our public schools are doing, it is a wonder that teachers are not in a continuous state of depression. We need to find ways to have fun and celebrate success. When I was a principal I searched for ways to celebrate staff successes. I felt celebration was integral for developing and enhancing the culture of the building and the well-being of the entire staff. In reviewing the literature, I find that I am not alone in suggesting the importance of celebration. Marzano, Waters and McNulty (2005) call celebration, Affirmation. Affirmation is defined as the extent to which the leader recognizes and celebrates school accomplishments. The authors identify affirmation as one of the twenty-one recognized responsibilities every school leader should develop. Deal and Peterson (2007) describe principals as potters. They tell us, “School leaders shape culture by encouraging rituals that celebrate important values.” Principals encourage rituals by providing “School-wide ceremonies that allow us to put cultural values on display, to retell important stories, and to recognize the exploits and accomplishments of important individuals.” Turning to psychology, we find that rituals and routines are commonplace in families. Elementary schools are generally viewed as families, and therefore schools can and should establish routines and rituals. Fiese, Tomcho, Douglas, Josephs, Poltrock, and Baker (2002) explain that “Rituals involve symbolic communication and convey ‘this is who we are’ as a group.’” Furthermore, they say there is often an emotional residue once the act [ritual] is completed, the individual may replay it in memory to recapture some of the affective experience. Moreover, we expect rituals to be related to feelings of closeness and belonging. Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, has also made reference to the act of “celebration.” He said, “Celebrating creates an atmosphere of recognition and positive energy. Imagine a team winning the World Series without champagne spraying everywhere. And yet companies win all the time and let go without so much as a high five. Work is too much a part of life not to recognize moments of achievement. Make a big deal out of them. If you don’t, no one will.” Finally, Deal and Peterson’s earlier work (1998) shares this: “Without celebratory ceremonies to pep up spirit, honor the passage of time, or provide closure, schools become sterile, humdrum, joyless places.” Are any of those adjectives the descriptors we want to use to explain where we spend 8-12 hours per day at work? I think not. If there is one thing we don’t do enough of in the educational setting, it is celebrating our successes. Most of the time, we don’t even celebrate the little day-to-day routines. Opportunities are missed and efforts are lost or forgotten. Celebrating doesn’t have to be elaborate and you don’t have to spend a lot of money. Think of the many ways in which you can celebrate. Work on establishing those routines and rituals that are unique to your school. Be creative and be resourceful. Here are some ideas to help get you started and to get you thinking about the act of celebration: Ø Celebrate the first 100 days of school Ø Celebrate various holidays like Cinco de Mayo, St. Patrick’s Day, Kwanza, birthdays of Presidents, first day of spring, baseball’s Opening Day, or Ground Hog Day Ø Celebrate the effort and increase of test scores Ø Celebrate individual educational milestones, like a teacher earning a Master’s degree or achieving National Board Certification Ø Celebrate birthdays Ø Celebrate retirements Ø Celebrate achievement of both students and teachers – these can be personal as well as school-related (such as a student’s sports team winning a game, or a staff member’s cornbread recipe placing third in the county fair) Ø Celebrate the end of January. If you live in warmer climates, this won’t make any sense to you. If you live in colder climates, it will. January is a long month with short days of light and long cold nights. The ice and snow has not left. So celebrating the end of January makes a whole lot of sense because warmer weather and spring are not far behind Ø Celebrate the beginning and the end of the school year Ø Celebrate daylight savings time Ø Celebrate with food. Have a potluck. Order food to be brought into the lounge once per month Ø Celebrate marriages, births, and in some cases, even divorces Ø Celebrate teacher of the week, of the month, of the year, or of the decade Ø Celebrate the end of something like throwing out an old textbook or the beginning of something new like adopting a new textbook Ø Celebrate to celebrate, just to drum up some excitement! By now you get a sense for what I am talking about. With a little planning and creativity, you too can organize celebrations of success in your school. To greatly improve the morale and to help develop a positive new culture in your building, try implementing planned situations for celebration. Recruit staff members, in particular those with artistic and creative talents, to help plan school-wide celebrations. Try to involve everyone in the implementation of these ritualistic events – recruit the PTA to support your endeavors, ask a School Board member to visit, try to rally some neighborhood businesses to provide either financial backing or personnel efforts, and ask the students to chime in. When we all get involved, the celebration takes hold and it carries even deeper meaning. It’s fitting that we should end this paper with some celebratory music like Kool and the Gang imploring everyone in their song, Celebration, to “Celebrate good times. C’mon.” Or, in the classic song by Three Dog Night, Celebrate, in which they said everyone should: Celebrate, celebrate dance to the music. Celebrate, celebrate dance to the music. Celebrate, celebrate dance to the music. References: Deal, T. & Peterson, K. (2007). Eight roles of symbolic leaders. In Educational Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. pp. 197-209. Deal, T. & Peterson, K. (1998). Shaping school culture: The heart of leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Fiese, B. H., Tomcho, T. J., Douglas, M., Josephs, K., Poltrock, S., & Baker, T. (2002). A review of 50 years of research on naturally occurring family routines and rituals: Cause for celebration? Journal of Family Psychology. Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 381-390. Marzano, R. J., Waters, T. & McNulty, B. A. (2005). School leadership that works. Alexandria, VA.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
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