This article was written by Greg Hackmann, Assistant Principal at Ballentine Elementary School in the Wake County Public School System in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. Greg has served as Ballentine's assistant principal for over a decade and helped lead the school's initial implementation of The Positivity Project. Ballentine is a multi-track, year-round school and one of 121 elementary schools in WCPSS, the largest district in North Carolina.
At Ballentine Elementary School, one of the ways we incorporate The Positivity Project is during our “Morning Meeting” time. Teachers center their morning meetings around the daily “lessons” and whole-class discussions based on the current character strengths. Many classes extend their focus and learning into other activities and even into group projects.
Mrs. Knott’s 3rd-grade class loves their Positivity Project time. “My students LOVE P2 and ask for it every single day,” said Mrs. Knott, 3rd-grade teacher. Her class was recently learning about the character strength “creativity.” The class decided to create a class “What If…” book. Each student used their “creativity” to come up with their own, unique “what if…” and create a page for the class book.
“I like the character strength of creativity,” said Sarah a 3rd grader in Mrs. Knott’s class, “because you can use your imagination to make something creative.” Sarah’s contribution to the class book was “What if doughnuts were a snail shell?” and she drew a very creative illustration of a snail with a doughnut for a shell! “I like when a teacher gives you some directions, but then you can take it and use your imagination and do something different.”
Mrs. Knott’s class enjoyed learning about creativity all week and then putting their creativity on display in their class “What If…” book.
