Kudos for Acknowledging
Recognition is considered one of the top motivators for employees. While ensuring fair pay and job security as the foundation, feeling appreciated and having control over your work drives sustained engagement and productivity.
Marissa Bellien (Krantz) was nominated for Teacher of the Week by a parent who remains anonymous and was featured on WILX. As a result, she has won a free field trip for her students to IQ Hub in St. Johns and a free Tommy’s Express Car Wash.
The IQ Hub is a one-of-a-kind facility that teaches students about agriculture and the environment through hands-on interactive exhibits. It sounds like a terrific science experience and launch to the growing season. Her students will have the opportunity to explore 24 exhibits, including a tractor stimulator to test their planting skills.
Marissa was acknowledged by the anonymous parent because of her joyful and radiant demeanor, her patience, her skill in building relationships and never giving up on a student. As a teacher coach who has been in her classroom multiple times, I can attest to the kudos she received! I would label Marissa a warm demander. She holds high expectations – always providing support to ensure students realize success while modeling the growth mindset.
For example, one of her most recent initiatives is the implementation of celebratory Fridays. All students are invited to gather in a circle on the rug to share both their class and individual weekly achievements, based on their goals. Her students bring artifacts to celebrate their behavior successes, academic gains (like test scores), improvements in writing and more.
Not every celebration is about reaching the final goal. Students are encouraged to recognize partial progress and set new intentions for where they want to go next. These regular intentional moments of reflection help build motivation and excitement for academic progress while reminding students that learning is a journey worth celebrating! Success builds students’ self-concept, self-esteem and a quest to learn more. As a result, perseverance, empathy, grit, kindness, patience and a host of other attributes emerge as natural byproducts of these celebrations.
I am sure Marissa’s public acknowledgment brought a smile to her face and cheers from her class. Having said all this, I’m prompted to challenge every reader of this story to consider acknowledging any one of our many gifted employees at Mason Public Schools. It matters! Kudos to Marissa’s anonymous acknowledger who got it started!
