https://padlet.com/tdansereau1/g1c5n8vjulrirw6a Exploring ways to appreciate staff members that are thoughtful, intentional, and meaningful. en-us 2021-06-28 21:52:10 UTC 2024-09-26 22:48:21 UTC hello@padlet.com tdansereau1 https://padlet.com/tdansereau1/g1c5n8vjulrirw6a/wish/1628977262 The concept of Languages of Appreciation stem from Gary Chapman's "Love Languages". Ultimately in his book "The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace", authors Gary Chapman and Paul White apply the idea of love languages, commonly used in relationships, to the workplace. 

The 5 Languages of Appreciation are: 
1) Words of Affirmation - People like to hear what/how they did well. 
2) Quality Time - People like to spend time with someone they value 
3) Gifts/Tangible Items - People like to receive gifts as a form of appreciation 
4) Acts of Service - People like things being taken off their plate or done for them as a form of appreciation 
5) Physical Touch - People appreciate hugs, handshakes, pats on the back, etc. to know they are valued. ]]> 2021-06-28 21:55:36 UTC https://padlet.com/tdansereau1/g1c5n8vjulrirw6a/wish/1628977262 tdansereau1 https://padlet.com/tdansereau1/g1c5n8vjulrirw6a/wish/1628983379 For our inquiry project, we wanted to explore what might happen if we took the time to get to know our staff's languages of appreciation in order to show them (in a more meaningful and personal way) that we value their contributions and the work they do. 

During class reviews in October, the SBRT team and the Admin team allotted a moment to ask staff what their language of appreciation is and note it down for reference later on. We then took some time to marinate in the idea a bit more and sent out a Google Forms to collect more information. We later used this information to appreciate staff at various times throughout the year. 

We, as staff at Beairsto, are extremely lucky to have the admin we do who take the time to appreciate all staff in various ways such as coming around with snacks on a Friday afternoon, purchasing lunch during those high stress moments such as student conferences, or starting a tab at a coffee shop for staff to go get a little treat. These do not go unnoticed and staff appreciates these moments immensely. Our question extended beyond this: What would happen if we appreciate different staff at random times, include a meaningful handwritten note and something that lines up with their Language of Appreciation? ]]> 2021-06-28 22:04:18 UTC https://padlet.com/tdansereau1/g1c5n8vjulrirw6a/wish/1628983379 tdansereau1 https://padlet.com/tdansereau1/g1c5n8vjulrirw6a/wish/1628989715 This inquiry was extremely interesting. Here are some key points that we learned:

1) Everyone feels weird about telling you how they feel appreciated! 

This was interesting! Once we preloaded the staff with the information on languages of appreciation prior to asking them and normalized the context we had more people open up about how they would prefer to be appreciated. 

2) This takes a substantial amount of time to implement year after year. 

It takes time to write personalized notes for staff members and it is easy to get behind if you don't keep track of who you have done and who is left to do. In the Languages of Appreciation book, they recommend keeping track using a spreadsheet of some kind. We implemented this early on and we hoped to hit each  staff member 2 times between November and June, however we were only able to show appreciation in this format one time. 

3) It works! 

We received thank you notes from staff once they received their "token" of appreciation. These thank you's were more gracious than we have seen before. We could tell that the personalization and a meaningful note made a difference. 

4) It takes teamwork! 

We worked extremely closely with our admin for this to play out! Being resource teachers, we work very closely with all staff, however staff don't necessarily wish to be appreciated by the SBRT team, but rather find it more meaningful coming from the top. Staff knew we were embarking on this endeavour, but when we wrote notes of appreciation it came from the SBRT team as well as from admin. ]]> 2021-06-28 22:13:21 UTC https://padlet.com/tdansereau1/g1c5n8vjulrirw6a/wish/1628989715 tdansereau1 https://padlet.com/tdansereau1/g1c5n8vjulrirw6a/wish/1628999678 After this experience, we believe that this would be a valuable experiment in all schools across the district. At the end of the day, it wasn't a massive financial burden and if planning to meaningfully appreciate each staff member approximately 2 times per year based on their specific Language of Appreciation rom September to June wouldn't take an extreme around of time. It makes a difference team wide to have staff who feel appreciated and valued! ]]> 2021-06-28 22:27:01 UTC https://padlet.com/tdansereau1/g1c5n8vjulrirw6a/wish/1628999678