Parking Lot Opinion Board

My favorite thing from this year was my "parking lot." (I learned this from a former band teacher.) It's a piece of poster board taped securely on my office door at both of my schools. I divided it into four sections - Δ delta for new ideas; ? question mark for questions (duh, Mrs. Bettis); + for positive reflections; and - for negative reflections. I stapled (next year I'm sewing it to the board so it will stay better attached) a quart sized baggie to the bottom and put in lots of sticky notes and pens.

At first, I got the nice "I love you Mrs. Bettis" notes that I treasure during the tough times. Then, the kids got brave and started making quite innovative and RELEVANT suggestions in that little Δ delta section.

If I had to cut off a comment about what someone did during Christmas vacation (because it had already taken up ten minutes of my lesson time), all I had to say was, "Write me a sticky," and the child could finish what they wanted to say without making me re-write my lesson plans. I loved getting to read what they said and being able to respond to it. Some children who would NEVER speak out loud made incredible observations and connections.