Zee Smile File!

Let's face it.   There are good days and bad days.   This is true of any day.  In any place.   In any profession.   

A piece of advice given to me during student teaching was to create a smile file.   This is something I have done every single school year, and it's really quite simple.   Each year I take a file folder and I staple the left and right side shut.    I label the file folder as a smile file and put the school year.   Throughout the year, I put in little tidbits that make me smile.   Sometimes it's a gum wrapper from a kid who shared.   Sometimes it's a print out of an email of appreciation.   Sometimes it's a card.   Sometimes it's a photocopy of the first "A" a student ever earned.   It's such a cool experience to sit down and go through the smile files.    If you're having a bad day for whatever reason, open that smile file!   It's magic!   

What's awesome is now my big wooden box is FILLED with smile files and it's time to figure out a new storage system considering I'm going into year 13.    I'd use a drawer in my classroom, but who are we kidding - those suckers are full!  :P