Positive Eye

Introduce the idea of Positive Eye to your students, beginning with co-creating norms and expectations with students to ensure that the notes are used for purely positive purposes. Give students randomized name cards at the beginning of class and instruct them to “spy” on the student whose name they received with the goal of catching them doing something positive. On the note card, students can shout the student out for that positive behavior, express an appreciation, or simply write a kind note. Be sure to explicitly teach how to write a strong Positive Eye note and what the impact of a poorly done Positive Eye note could have on the community. Within the first few iterations of the routine (at least), sentence starters should be used to help students practice writing specific, thoughtful, and kind notes.

Check out the following resources from Brittany Perro at High Tech Middle North County. Her students created the Positive Eye activity in order to build a sense of belonging in their classroom. Positive Eye Activity Description and Positive Eye Name Card Template.

What did you notice about the quality of Positive Eye notes? At first? Over time?

What did you notice about the impact of the Positive Eye notes? At first? Over time?

How do you think this routine will impact your classroom community, with regular practice?

How might you create the conditions for all students to develop the skill of writing strong Positive Eye notes?