Here’s a great way to help establish a positive classroom environment…a Positive Remarks box.

I made this box many, many years ago out of an old shoebox which I decorated with construction paper and stickers. I then told my fourth grade students to be on the lookout for positive things their classmates did. When they saw one, they could write it on a little slip of paper and put it in the Positive Remarks box. To make it easy for them to write observations, I gave them some strips of paper that they could keep in their desks.

So that they could understand exactly what a positive remark “looked” like, I already had the box filled with a comment for each one of my students which I read out loud. Things like, I liked how Jose picked up the empty baggie from the floor and threw it in the garbage or Annie did a nice job of working with her group on the geoboard activity.

I did ask that they not write their name on their remarks. This helped avoid the problem of students simply wanting recognition for writing comments or the possibility of someone looking at it as a competition.

Seeing me pick up a slip and write something on it would remind students to keep an eye out for those good deeds.

I chose to read the comments to the class on Friday afternoons. The Class Leader (elected each month afer a speech and a vote) would hand out the comments to the particular student after I read it. The anticipation of the students as they waited to hear what someone had observed about them created such a positive vibe in the classroom. It was a great way to start the weekend!

When you read the comments, however, it’s SUPER IMPORTANT that each student has at least one positive remark. This meant that I had to go through all the comments the day before we passed them out to make sure each student was represented. This is also the time I would weed out the inappropriate remarks, which does happen from time to time. And what I discovered was that I wasn’t the only one looking for positive behavior; some of the things I did ended up in that box.

As a teacher, constantly looking for positive actions made me much more aware of each one of my students. And although it took a little time to get the remarks ready for our Friday reading, the benefits of a positive and respectful classroom environment was absolutely worth it.