This post begins with Sharon Hance's words and ideas, and ends with how they affected me.
Sharon's Story:
It began with a visit to my sister and a little shop in North Carolina. The store offered handmade goods and these little stars caught my eye. There was a huge variety with quotes of varying themes inside each star. (See
this Etsy page for where you can purchase your own!)
My sister and I bought some and spent the weekend opening them... and trying to figure out how they were made... to no avail!
After scouring the internet and studying
tutorials and
videos, I was finally able to produce a "non-wonky" star!
Making little paper stars became a way to relax and de-stress after a busy day. I kept a bowl of paper strips on my table and made them anytime I had a spare moment. It was truly calming!
Then the connection came to me! Our school district had launched a major transformation in the fall of 2018 with the following mission:
To empower students to make meaningful contributions to the world by creating learning experiences that include four key elements (S.T.A.R.):
Skills: Students will work on significant content and skills.
Tasks: Students will engage with real-world, challenging problems.
Audience: Students will create public products for an audience beyond the teacher.
Reach: Students will connect with the world to improve the quality and enhance the impact of their work.
Our Curriculum Instruction Teacher Leaders and Instructional Coaches had done an amazing job on our conference days, working in cross-grade level teams to begin the conversation and our teachers were taking risks and sharing their good work. Teacher Appreciation Week was just around the corner! I knew how I would say, "Thank you," and I printed strips with gratitude quotes. I began folding jars of stars!
Teacher Appreciation Week rolled around and each school building principal got a jar of stars of the team.
Each Curriculum Instruction Teacher Leader and Instructional Coach got a jar, too.
One of the quotes inside the stars reads, "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." ~William Arthur Ward. When Joy tweeted about "mindfulness" and self-care for teachers, I thought she might like to give star-folding a try.
Joy's Story:
Sharon Hance shared this gem with me via a direct message. She made teachers and nurses jars of stars for Teacher Appreciation Week!
Of course, I have a hard time NOT trying something like this, so I immediately got down all my fun scrapbooking paper (which I used to use a TON to make greeting cards - some day I'll get back to that)!
I cut a ton of half-inch strips and just started making them (see the first picture). Sharon had shared with me
a video tutorial, and it was fairly easy. I did get better the more I practiced. I brought the strips to a meeting and enjoyed fidgeting while I was listening.
When I see these little paper stars, I light up. When I know that there is an inspirational quote in each one, my day is brighter.
Next, I brought the idea to EdCampChicago (this last one was at Lake Park HS in Roselle). We talked about how important gratitude has been for me to get through rough spots at work and home, and we brainstormed how we could spread kindness through the stars at our own schools. Since the end is tough to tuck back in AND I wanted people receiving them to be able to open them up, we figured out a way to add a "tail" of sorts, so they became "shooting stars" with a cut in the tail so the recipient would know where to unravel them.
They liked them... They really liked them!
They even continued making them in their next session!
And then, using Sharon's idea again, I decided to make a Google Doc (turned into
this spreadsheet) of quotes or inspirational sayings I'd like to use. I collect quotes from books, so this part was easy. Making sure they came out as half-inch strips was a bit trickier. On the bottom tabs you can see the focus for each sheet of quotes.
Next, I printed them out - forty different quotes on forty different pieces of patterned paper (cut to 8.5" x 11" size to fit in the printer). Then came the cutting. Phew! I loved having them by my side when I was watching TV or listening to a book or podcast... I'm with Sharon - making them was calming - when they worked right! I purchased 17 jars with cork lids (again - like Sharon's!) from Michael's when they were 50% off. Seventeen due to the fact that I've got one set of 17 quotes on each printed page. I've got my jars ready to go - full of hope and gratitude. I'll be handing them out to stressed teachers when the time is right.
Sharon isn't very "talkative" via Twitter, yet she watches what I share, and she has shared some mood-boosting notes privately with me. I wanted to highlight this interaction and share her idea for one huge reason: Imagine how many teachers - and their students - Sharon has affected by sharing these adorable stars. Imagine how many educators will now take this idea, make changes to it to fit their own needs, and affect many more humans in this fashion.
Sharon - thank you for sharing and for being brave to share your story in this post, as well. I'm excited to know there will be a huge ripple effect of kindness and gratitude thanks to the fact that you shared.
Side note: As my husband read this over (he's my blogging editor!), this song was on in the background... serendipitous? Perhaps.
