A few good words...
by Kristen Hudson / ga03302007

When I was a new beehive teacher, I did an activity with our large group of girls that really fostered some beautiful feelings. As with any large group, there were some girls who had a hard time getting along. I made up a sheet for each of them to fill out...it had each girl's name on it with two lines underneath for writing. I asked them to fill out the sheet, writing two things that they admired about each particular person. Even if it was a girl they were having problems with, they were to do their best to find something wonderful about that girl....and try hard to make your answers meaningful. Not just...."I think she's nice." If you really think the person is nice, tell why....like, "I love the way she makes sure everybody is included in the conversation." (A quick lesson about finding the good in others, and being sincere, would be very appropriate with this activity.) All comments were going to remain anonymous, and I made sure the girls understood no one else would see these lists in their handwriting except for me. Also, no negative comments...the idea was to search for the best!

When I did this, we couldn't finish in class...too many girls, and it took a lot of time to come up with meaningful comments. I asked the girls to finish at home, and turn in the lists to me during the next week. THEY ALL DID IT! I was amazed, because it really was alot of work. When I got all the lists, I then made a special sheet for each girl with her name on it, and listed below in random order all the things her classmates admired about her. The girls never knew which comments came from which classmate, it was just a list she knew came from everybody. It was such a SPECIAL lesson for all of them. One mother came up to me a few weeks later and told me how much it meant for her daughter who was struggling with her self esteem. She had taken the list and framed it and placed it on the wall for her daughter to look at every day....it made her feel so much better about herself to know her classmates had such good thoughts about her.