Do you keep a “Good News” folder?
As an early-career teacher, the first time I received a positive message from a student I was so excited about it that I forwarded the message to my mom. Her response was one sentence: “Put it in your Good News folder.”
At the time I did not have such a folder so I took her advice and created one. When I get nice emails from students, parents and colleagues, I forward them to my personal email address, adding “File under Good News” to the subject line. More than 10 years later, this folder houses celebrations of many of the most awesome moments of my career. The best are those moments I don’t remember or failed to even be aware of at the time, such as a student who latched onto something I said and wrote years later to let me know the impact my words had.
I’ll never forget that first student email I received. “I bet you’re surprised to hear from me,” it began, “and you probably think I hated you (because I used to always tell you that I hated you).” She was right.
I was shocked not only to hear from her but to learn that she secretly loved the class and years later still kept up with the creative writing journal we did on Monday mornings.
These pieces of good news are excellent reminders of why we do what we do. They are artifacts we can share with our supervisors. They also serve as recommendation letters that we can take into job interviews. Perhaps most important, the Good News folder is there for us when we are feeling down and need a pick-me-up.
UPDATES
Some folks have shared their own genius ideas to add to this:
https://twitter.com/Filibuster3/status/1158714208969584645?s=19
https://twitter.com/108maestrareed/status/1158679556460617729?s=19
What do YOU love about YOUR Good News folder?
