No such thing as . . .

No such thing as . . . too much celebration! 

It was the end of September in a second-grade classroom. The students were finishing up their first personal narrative books and getting ready to share them with the first graders. As they finished the construction paper covers, their teacher and I walked around with the stapler to attach each cover to the pages, the kuh-junk, kuh-junk, kuh-junk of the three staples signifying that their books were ready for the world. As the other students heard the sound, they said things like, “Congratulations!” and “You are published!” to each other. One of the boys got up and started fist-bumping kids as soon as their final staple went in. It was construction paper and staples, but to them, it was the joy of celebrating an accomplishment. I remember in that moment wondering how to harness this joy more often. 

Celebration is motivating. It breeds determination and success. We often think that a celebration should come only at the end of a big project or accomplishment. I would argue, though, that celebration should be used throughout a unit of study to bring energy and motivation. 

Think of reading and writing conferences as mini-celebrations of learning. Make sure to help the students celebrate all that they have learned as you go back over your conferring notes with them and show them how far they have come with using their skills and strategies. Help them celebrate when they use all they know to decode a word or learn how to elaborate in their writing. 

You can also start each lesson you teach with a celebratory recap of all the students have learned already and how they might apply what they know to what you are about to teach them. Celebration makes everyone feel proud of how much progress has been made. 

I refer to tests and assessments as a “Celebration of What You Know” (borrowed from one of my favorite mentors). This changes the whole mindset about tests from thinking of them as trying to figure out what a student does not know to celebrating what has been learned. It feels like a lot less pressure for all of us. 

Celebration is a great way to end a big unit of learning or to celebrate a big milestone, but it can also be used every day to keep kids motivated and excited about learning. To us, it might just be construction paper and staples or a quick mention of a job well done, but to kids it can mean everything!