Guest post by Joe Mazza

Back in June, we spent an hour on #PTchat talking about whether Awards Assemblies were best for all kids. We agreed it was good to recognize students for all they do, but one takeaway highlighted how difficult it is for some students to be a part of the audience when year after year, their names are NOT the ones called, even if they made great strides during the school year.

Building natural recognitions for students “into the bricks” of the school is one of the goals many of us have for a healthy school culture. If we naturally recognize our students for what they do each day, whether for an in school or out of school happening, we can boost self-esteem and continue developing deep relationships with students. When our students feel valued and appreciated by their teachers, parents and peers, they are more likely to be happy and comfortable within their learning community.

This week on #PTchat, we’re asking you to bring your best ideas on how you recognize students throughout the course of the school year. Do you have something weekly on the announcements? Do you hand out character counts tickets? Post names and accomplishments in your school newsletter? Let’s develop a list of ideas to bring back to our schools. This is a great chat to have your own children sit in on to help answer the questions because in the end, we want to recognize students with their voice in mind.

Join us this Wednesday, 11/28 at 9PM EDT / 6PM PST for #PTchat.

New to Twitterchats?

After logging on to Twitter, visit Tweetchat and simply enter “ptchat” in the box at the top. Follow along, just watch and/or participate as you as much as you like to join others around the world in this weekly chat. We look forward to engaging your unique and important parent/teacher/student perspective.