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MOTIVATE CELEBRATE TO

THE ART OF INSPIRING STUDENTS , STAFF , AND THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY

SHAWN CRESWELL KATY SUE TRAICOFF

MOTIVATE CELEBRATE TO

THE ART OF INSPIRING

STUDENTS , STAFF , AND THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY

SHAWN

CRESWELL KATY SUE TRAICOFF

Materials appearing here are copyrighted. With one exception, all rights are reserved. Readers may reproduce only those pages marked “Reproducible.” Otherwise, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publisher. This book, in whole or in part, may not be included in a large language model, used to train AI, or uploaded into any AI system.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my coauthor, colleague, and forever friend, Katy Sue Traicoff, for her invaluable contributions to our book and her boundless enthusiasm throughout this journey. Your love of celebrations, big and small, infused our work with joy and energy, making the entire process as enjoyable as the stories we have captured. From brainstorming ideas over mountainous drives to refining drafts at airport restaurants, every part was filled with laughter, creativity, and a shared passion for celebrations. Thank you for being not only a remarkable coauthor but also an incredible travel companion and friend. Here’s to celebrating the journey and the stories we’ve created along the way!

This book would not have been possible without the unwavering support of my amazing family. I want to thank Steve, Billy, Morgan, Tory, Wes, Sarah, Grace, and Jack for their endless love, encouragement, and belief in me throughout this writing journey. Your understanding and patience have been my greatest source of motivation and strength, and I am deeply grateful for the way you embrace and celebrate the writing process with me. Now, it’s time to celebrate all of you!

—Shawn Creswell

I am deeply grateful to my coauthor, mentor, and dear friend, Shawn Creswell. Your belief in me, your encouragement to find good in every person, and your emphasis on embracing each day with optimism have profoundly shaped my perspective on life. I am forever indebted to you for teaching me the profound joy of creating a magical learning environment for others and for inspiring me to become a better educator and a more compassionate human being.

Finally, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to my extraordinary family. Your unwavering support, your celebration of my every adventure, and your steadfast belief in my continued growth have been the driving force behind all that I am. Your love and encouragement motivate me to strive for excellence in all that I do. This book is dedicated to you with all my love.

—Katy Sue Traicoff

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Shawn Creswell is a highly experienced educational leader, author, presenter, and coach who collaborates with educators across the United States to implement the Professional Learning Community (PLC) at Work® process, the RTI at Work™ process, and Yes We Can! With over twenty-eight years of experience in both private and public education, she has served in diverse roles, including classroom teacher across multiple grade levels, assistant principal of a middle school, principal of a K–6 school, and founding principal of a new preK–6 school. She also held the position of district director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment for grades preK–12 in a large Texas school district.

In addition to working with districts and schools throughout the United States, Shawn serves as a school board member in her community, championing continuous improvement efforts for students, educators, and their families. As a seasoned building- and district-level administrator, she is passionate about fostering exceptional learning and growth for every student. Committed to ensuring that every child thrives, Shawn brings proven expertise and a wealth of knowledge to transforming schools in both urban and suburban settings.

Under Shawn’s leadership as principal, Coulson Tough K–6 School in Texas received certification as a High Reliability School at level 1 in 2019 and at level 2 in 2020. Through the implementation of the PLC at Work process, the school had dramatic and sustained student growth during the six years Shawn was principal. In the spring of 2020, Coulson Tough K–6 School was recognized as a Model PLC at Work school by Solution Tree. In addition, it was the second school in the United States to receive distinctions as both a High Reliability School and a Model PLC at Work school.

Shawn earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Illinois State University and a master’s degree in educational administration from Sam Houston State University.

To learn more about Shawn’s work, follow her @creswell_shawn on X and Shawn Creswell on LinkedIn, and join the Celebrate to Motivate group on Facebook.

INTRODUCTION

Celebrations infuse life with passion and purpose

They summon the human spirit They reattach us to our human roots and help us soar toward new visions They touch our hearts and fire our imaginations

—TERRENCE E. DEAL AND M. K. KEY

Cue the music: “Celebrate good times, come on!” (Kool & the Gang, 1980). Playing Kool & the Gang’s famous song “Celebration” gets people energized, hands in the air and smiles on their faces, and feeling like they can take on the world and celebrate with gusto.

We want to celebrate you, the reader, for picking up this book with the intention of making celebration a meaningful part of your organization. Congratulations for taking your first step in thinking about how your organization can celebrate good times and harness the valuable work of celebration to motivate and inspire individuals in and around our districts and schools. Many people may view celebrations as merely warm and fuzzy rewards with little impact on motivation. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Science and research demonstrate that celebrations play a crucial role in recognizing meaningful accomplishments, inspiring ongoing improvement, and combatting burnout. Psychologist Seth J. Gillihan explains that our minds tend to cling to negative memories of the day, often overshadowing our successes (Psychology Today Contributors, 2024). By intentionally reflecting on and celebrating even the smallest victories, we can shift our perspective to emphasize the positive moments instead of dwelling on the negative.

Celebration not only helps us stay motivated during challenging moments of burnout but also serves as a powerful tool for achieving our goals. Lofty goals can often feel overwhelming, but pausing to acknowledge and celebrate small wins along the way can provide the encouragement needed to keep pushing forward.

Psychology researcher Rachel Hershenberg (2017) explains that “positive reinforcement is the little nugget of reward that keeps you trucking along toward your goals” (p. 129). This reinforcement can be as simple as an internal acknowledgment or one that comes from others. The key is that our brains need to recognize progress on the path toward our goals. By celebrating along the way, we maintain motivation and excitement to continue the journey. As the opening quote suggests, “Celebrations infuse life with passion and purpose.”

This is the perfect opportunity to celebrate both small and big successes, whether planned or spontaneous, to not only motivate but truly inspire others. By doing so, we can reignite the joy and passion in our profession, and ultimately enhance our core mission: ensuring high levels of learning for all students. We believe in the art of celebration, which is why we wrote this book. It is our hope that educators will embrace the variety of ways celebrations can impact the culture in their districts, schools, and classrooms to motivate both students and educators.

But first, we will look at the critical foundational pillars that interconnect with the act of celebration. It is vital to understand the role the professional learning community (PLC) process plays in creating a culture and climate of celebration. That is why, in each chapter, we connect the core elements of the PLC at Work® process to celebrations, and here, we begin with a brief discussion of those core elements.

PLC at Work

A PLC is built on the foundational pillars of a shared vision, mission, values (collective commitments), and goals (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Many, Mattos, & Muhammad, 2024). The foundational pillars create a shared culture in which districts, systems, and schools align the work of ensuring high levels of learning for all students. Once a foundation is established, the PLC process is grounded in three big ideas (DuFour et al., 2024).

1. Focus on learning: Educators within the organization commit to shifting focus from what is being taught to deeply believing and having evidence that students are learning the taught concepts, skills, and dispositions at grade level or higher.

2. Collaborative culture and collective responsibility: The organization ensures staff have the time and resources to work collaboratively in a team setting.

3. Results orientation: Educators are focused on evidence of learning. Collaborative teams collectively gather and analyze evidence of student growth toward mastery, and they decide how to work together to address individual student learning outcomes.

Throughout this book, we address how any district, system, or school can celebrate the work of creating a high-functioning PLC. However, whether you are already operating as a PLC, or your organization is hoping to build a culture of celebration, you can use Celebrate to Motivate to support those efforts.

Guiding Coalition

PLCs function in part due to the leadership of a guiding coalition. At the school level, the guiding coalition is typically composed of a variety of leaders, including the principal, assistant principal, and lead teachers from the grade levels and departments so all members of the school have a direct connection to and regularly collaborate with at least one guiding coalition member. The main responsibility of a guiding coalition is to support and ensure implementation of the PLC at Work process across the school or district. In addition, the

personally used and successful strategies from districts and schools we have been blessed to work with on the journey to becoming a high-performing PLC.

We designed Celebrate to Motivate to be a lasting resource you can revisit to gain ideas and continue to enhance and refine celebration practices. We wrote each chapter as a stand-alone to allow for flexible use. We encourage you to join our Celebrate to Motivate Facebook group to gain new ideas as well as share your great ideas with others. Our goal with the Celebrate to Motivate Facebook group is to have a worldwide celebration community.

This book details the critical role celebration plays in every area of the district or school. Chapter 1 focuses on the overall culture—the traditions, rituals, and celebrations that occur within the district or school and their impact. Here, we discuss the research behind how celebrations motivate and create a positive climate within the organization for educators, students, and the community.

Chapter 2 takes a deeper dive into the various ways celebrations can motivate students. We share the research behind the celebrations, along with inspirations from the field, so educators see how small celebrations can encourage students and make a positive impact for them.

Chapter 3 explores how celebrations can motivate and inspire staff members within the district or school. We examine the research behind adult motivation and the impact celebrations can have on employee retention and overall job satisfaction.

Finally, in chapter 4, we aim to demonstrate how families within the community become connected to the district or school through meaningful celebrations. When each of these areas becomes a priority for celebration, the entire community is enhanced.

Why is it important to read a book about celebrations? We believe celebrations can enrich the lives of students, staff members, families, and communities. Celebrations connect people and have the power to motivate and inspire us in creating memories that last a lifetime.

This book provides insight into the importance of celebration in supporting educators and the students they serve. It celebrates the role of education in student learning and aims to inspire educators to reignite a love for their profession through a shifted focus on celebrating, acknowledging, praising, affirming, inspiring, and motivating one another, students, families, and our communities. It’s time to get started. Cue the music again: “Celebrate good times, come on!” (Kool & the Gang, 1980).

CHAPTER

1 A CULTURE OF CELEBRATION

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel

—MAYA ANGELOU

If you have ever been to a sporting event of any kind, you have likely experienced the power of celebration. Can you connect with this experience? You are at a football game with a friend, otherwise surrounded by strangers, and then suddenly, your team makes an important play, and the fans around you erupt in celebration. People are high-fiving one another, chanting the name of a player, talking about the play with those around them, and communally cheering together like old friends.

The fans look and feel connected. Not only are they wearing the team shirts and colors to show their support visually, but they are also more than happy to talk to a complete stranger about the players, the plays, or their history of supporting the team. As the players rush back to their positions, readying themselves for the next play, they can hear cheers from the crowd. The energy spreads across the playing area, creating a powerful moment of motivation and excitement to continue the team’s work toward their end goal—winning the game.

Much like the community built around sporting events, districts and schools can create PLCs that connect members of the organization through celebration, recognition, storytelling, and ceremony. “Celebration is an integral element of culture and . . . provides the symbolic adhesive that welds a community together” (Deal & Key, 1998, p. 11). This adhesive for a high-performing PLC can come through big-moment celebrations that highlight what the organization values, through storytelling that helps define the values via specific moments, or through ceremonies that draw attention to the organization’s collective goals.

Throughout this chapter, we emphasize the importance of creating a district or school culture of celebration with tools needed to enhance the work. Creating a culture of celebration requires more than one school leader, so we examine the role of the guiding coalition

values. Big moments are important to create community and celebrate the results of big wins, hard work, and dedication to achieving goals.

In their book Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work , Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, Mike Mattos, and Anthony Muhammad (2021) contend that “leaders who capture the power of creating short-term wins linked to frequent, timely, and meaningful recognition and celebration have seen significant school improvement in a relatively short period of time” (pp. 26–27). We agree that smaller moments on the way to those grand events are equally important, and research states those smaller moments can create feelings of motivation, inspiration, and perseverance. In fact, authors James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner (2003) find that study after study analyzing what employees are seeking in their jobs conclude they want to feel appreciated. Creating a culture of appreciation on the way to big wins fuels the organization to keep reaching for the district or school’s vision, mission, and goals.

Behavioral scientist Brian J. Fogg (2020) explains the link between emotions and habits. Forming habits is not a matter of thirty days of consistent practice. It goes beyond relying on determination or discipline to make change. Adding the simple yet powerful practice of celebrating small successes makes change happen. Fogg (2020) states, “When something makes you feel successful, you want more. You engage” (p. 141). He further explains that celebrating small wins stimulates dopamine release in the brain; this feel-good chemical reinforces the learning experience and motivates you to do it again. Similarly, Whitney Johnson (2022) writes, “Change and growth are promoted through positive emotions more than through disciplined practice.”

By harnessing the power of your neurochemistry through small and frequent celebrations, you create new habits. This connects to the idea of adding small celebrations to organizational practices. A culture of recognition and positive affirmations can be contagious, as it frequently encourages people to notice and appreciate the great work around them. Celebration impacts the person individually but can also overflow to impact the team.

Celebrating daily and weekly successes creates a culture of focusing on what you are doing well to emphasize positive growth toward your purpose and goals. Moreover, “a motivating school community welcomes all students and staff and capitalizes on their strengths and talents” (Chapman & Dimich, 2011, p. 200).

Practicing psychiatrist Benjamin Cheyette and pediatric neurologist Sarah Cheyette (2021) write, “It’s very important to celebrate when you reach small, intermediate goals on the path to success.” Small celebrations on the way to a greater goal help build self-esteem and hope, which lead to motivation for the future. Fogg (2020) explains, “What happens in your brain when you experience positive reinforcement isn’t magic—it’s neurochemical” (p. 136). By intentionally celebrating small moments of success, you begin to rewire your brain, creating a positive feeling in addition to reinforcing the action that brought you that success.

Organizational anthropologist and consultant Judith E. Glaser (2015) extends this thinking by stating organizations that are intentional with celebration “open up their employees to make them feel part of the company’s common success, enable them to have the confidence

to challenge the status quo, take ambitious initiatives, and share their creative ideas with others.” Neuroscience is responsible for creating this phenomenon. The brain has many feel-good chemicals, including oxytocin, endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine; these are collectively responsible for impacting feelings of well-being, enhancing focus, and minimizing distracting information (Glaser, 2015).

Not only does celebration enhance good brain chemistry, but it also impacts not-so-good chemistry. Glaser (2015) explains that the fight-or-flight center of the brain (the amygdala) and the hormone cortisol are, respectively, less active and lower during celebrations. Celebration is just the medicine needed to keep the brain at its healthiest!

Celebration Inspirations

In every district office and school where we have worked, we have observed and experienced the culture from the first day. Whether we notice what is valued by what is displayed on the walls or by how the first person we meet greets us, these moments often go unplanned yet play a significant role in shaping the culture.

As school leaders, we found it important to create as many meaningful celebrations as possible. We could see the difference this made in the culture at both district and school levels. In this chapter, we highlight various ways that celebrations across the entire district and school can motivate students, staff members, and the community. We share many of our own ideas, as well as inspiring examples we have learned about firsthand from districts and schools we have worked with throughout the United States.

Celebrate and Motivate Through First Impressions

New employees’ impressions of a school or district culture begin on the first day of work. A major difference we have seen between weak and strong cultures involves an employee’s first day. Oftentimes, in an educational setting, people think of celebrations as big moments such as retirements. But we believe an employee’s first day should be just as special and impactful. At the start of every school year at Coulson Tough Elementary in The Woodlands, Texas, where Shawn was principal, we met with all new staff members for a special orientation, regardless of where they worked in our building, prior to the start of the school year.

We purposefully chose special treats to give them, such as a school shirt and spirit items like notepads, pens, a lunch box, and so on, with our school’s name and mascot on them. We included a personalized note from the school principal and our welcome committee. We wanted to convey our excitement to new staff who were becoming part of our team.

A welcome committee, in this context, is a team that conducts interviews for new hires and intentionally supports them through the onboarding process so they feel celebrated and welcome in joining the school family. The orientation meeting provides time to get to know the new staff personally and professionally and orient them to the school. At Coulson Tough Elementary, new hires met with the welcome committee for half the day and then spent time with the school secretary, the librarian, the media specialist, and their mentor.

What stories are shared in your school? do you communicate the school’s history to new families and staff members? Reflect on how traditions and their significance can be passed on and shared with others.

Celebrate and Motivate Through Academic Achievements

As mentioned in the introduction (page 1), the third big idea of a PLC is a results orientation (DuFour et al., 2024). This means that districts and schools are not only intentional about quality instruction, but also hungry for evidence that students are learning and growing toward mastery of the essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions they must acquire in each grade, course, and content area. Richard DuFour and colleagues (2024) state, “Members of a PLC recognize that all their efforts must ultimately be assessed on the basis of results rather than intentions” (p. 19).

Gathering data and having meaningful conversations about the results are critical to the PLC process. We found that shifting from focusing on the weaknesses found in the data to discussing the successes does two things: (1) It helps identify successful instructional practices and resources the teachers should continue, and (2) it transforms defensive and negative data meetings into meetings where all members are honored for their individual strengths and address next steps for improvement together. Experiencing this shift had a tremendous impact on our practices.

Katy Sue recalls a day when her teacher team had a scheduled data meeting to review recent district benchmark assessment results. In previous years, the experience of data meetings had always filled her with anxiety and dread. She had looked over her results with a focus on the percentage of students who did not meet proficiency, the student groups that underperformed, and the standards and skills on which her class performed lower than her teammates’ classes. She knew she was entering the data meeting under a microscope, which most educators can relate to.

When Katy Sue arrived to the data meeting, the new school principal (Shawn), the assistant principal, the instructional coach, and her grade-level teammates were sitting around the table. Shawn could see the angst on Katy Sue’s face as she sat down with her data and a prepared response, ready to defend her results. Katy Sue did not realize that the look on her face gave away her internal trepidation. With a smile, Shawn reassured Katy Sue that this data meeting was not an “I gotcha” moment but rather a time to celebrate the data that

available staff member be assigned to greet students every morning. That simple idea was implemented right away and dramatically changed the atmosphere at arrival time. Not only did students arrive to a smiling face and a positive interaction, but this greeting became that staff member’s favorite part of the day. The principal recognized the receptionist in the weekly newsletter’s “staff shout-out” section. Later that day, many staff members came by the receptionist’s desk to give her a pat on the back or a high five. It was a win-win for everyone!

To simplify the process of celebrating and recognizing staff members, Executive Director of Professional Learning, Jeff Mann, designed custom notecards featuring the district logo on them for district-level leaders and principals to write a note of appreciation to give to staff members. Leaders greatly appreciated this thoughtful initiative, as it made it easier for them to express gratitude and recognize the hard work of staff members in a meaningful way (J. Mann, personal communication, January 25, 2024).

When someone celebrated you, whether that celebration was small or grand, you likely felt a lot of emotions. The positive actions and words people give to others often become reciprocal, creating stronger relationships. In addition, being acknowledged, rewarded, or celebrated for their efforts motivates people to commit to even greater performance. It’s important that leaders interact with staff members and find ways to connect. Teachers and staff members need to be surrounded by others who encourage, inspire, and celebrate them because these relationships foster job satisfaction and growth.

List ways you can use celebrations to strengthen relationships within your school.

PAUSE

Celebrate and Motivate Through Unifying Traditions

Traditions are a thoughtful way to unite students, staff, and the school community and to help individuals feel a sense of belonging. An article in Psychology Today explains the impact of honoring unifying events: “Traditions may vary . . . but they all have something in common: By uniting us with each other, even sometimes uncomfortably, rituals help us patch together a collective armor” (Huston, 2013). Establishing organizational traditions develops interpersonal relationships and builds trust through a shared group identity. It is through tradition that the district or school honors and promotes the organization’s purpose and values.

Lori Motsch, superintendent of New Lenox School District in Illinois, has created an annual tradition from her belief in the power of matching shirts. Although it is common for schools to have school spirit shirts, Lori creates one shirt for her entire school community

invited to the banquet. At the event, several students share essays about their chosen educators. Finally, all student nominations are compiled into a keepsake binder, which is also available online. Justin says the grand award ceremony is a huge honor for both students and educators and is one of the most memorable events of the school year (J. Grimes, personal communication, May 9, 2024).

Both district and school leaders set an example of what is valued in the organization. Successful leaders recognize that validation and celebration play pivotal roles in motivating both employees and students. This does not mean the leader needs to be the only one seeking and highlighting staff members and students, but it does mean the school or district administrative team should intentionally create a culture of celebration. Celebrations can take many forms, both private and public. They can appear in many media, such as newsletters, schoolwide announcements, social media platforms, and websites. Ideally, there should be numerous opportunities to celebrate individuals.

What are your current celebrations for employees? do you have celebrations that are specific to individual employees? do you have celebrations for the whole organization?

What are your current celebrations for students? do you have a variety of celebrations tailored to individual students, entire classes, or the whole school?

Celebrate and Motivate Through the Mission, Vision, Values (Collective Commitments), and Goals

It is important to reflect on what should be celebrated. Having worked in various districts and school settings, we have witnessed that what is celebrated is often seen as what is truly valued. Mike Mattos, Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Thomas W. Many (2016)

Shawn presented the Triple T Awards every Friday. She made these celebrations extra special by bringing a basket of treats with her into the classroom, along with the certificate. She started each visit by asking students why they thought their teacher or other staff member was receiving an award. Students would quickly raise their hands, eager to share with her the wonderful things they knew about this person. Can you imagine hearing students sing your praises?

One staff member recognized our sixth-grade science teacher who found a national science competition for students to participate in. Another staff member recognized a fifth-grade mathematics teacher who had a weekly lunch bunch with students to build their mathematics skills and confidence in fun ways. Our custodian was recognized by a staff member because he had been mentoring a student who made incredible improvements in his behavior. The nominations came in slowly at first, but in a short time, the Triple T Awards were filling Shawn’s desk on a weekly basis. Peer-to-peer recognition is a powerful, meaningful way to encourage and support each other while building a positive school climate. This culture of recognizing the good in one another with simple shout-outs and intentionally creating space for small celebrations inspired staff to continue celebrating and finding ways to acknowledge the efforts of others.

Whether it is a grand or small moment, recognition can be a powerful motivator for everyone. It is common to focus on larger celebrations, and although those are impactful, you should be intentional about how smaller celebrations keep both adults and students motivated toward achieving goals while giving them positive feelings.

Journey to Achievement

Be purposeful with celebrating culminating success, but just as important, celebrate the journey to success. Put another way, celebrate achievement as well as the steps taken along the way. Celebrations can be so much more than just feel-good moments in time and boosts in morale. Recognition of and affirmation of hard work, effort, perseverance, and determination are equally motivating and promote employee retention. By creating a culture where accomplishments are recognized, appreciated, and celebrated, leaders can ignite the flame of motivation, encouraging employees and students to reach new heights of success while becoming supportive and connected in their schools and districts.

How does your district or school actively recognize and celebrate its mission, vision, values (collective commitments), and goals? What suggestions do you have for improving or adding to these celebrations?

• See recognition as a necessary ingredient and key driver of school success, rather than just another event on their calendar

• Take the lead and get personally involved by playing an active role in the recognition process

• Are not content with being the sole source of recognition, and build an environment in which recognition is contagious, and everyone plays an important role (Hodges, 2015)

We notice how frequent, small, and informal celebrations, along with the larger, grander ones, strengthen the entire culture of a school. We believe you cannot celebrate too often, so when you see a person worthy of being recognized, take a moment to celebrate. As Colette Reed (2015) suggests in her article “The Power of ‘Thank You’”: “Don’t wait for the ‘right’ moment, but rather help create moments that build a culture of appreciation and great work.”

Jasmine K. Kullar (2015) suggests that administrators make a point of reflecting at the end of a school year to gather the school’s successes in one document. This practice provides time and space to thoughtfully collect celebrations that can then be shared with staff members, families, and the community. We agree that this is a meaningful practice and suggest the guiding coalition assumes this responsibility during an end-of-year reflection and planning meeting since it represents the districtwide or schoolwide team that leads the work of the PLC. The guiding coalition is tasked with guiding the district or school to collaboratively achieve the shared vision, mission, values (collective commitments), and goals.

Reflecting on the successes of the district, school, or team provides an opportunity for the guiding coalition to celebrate the highlights and growth across the year. Research also notes the importance of leadership: “When the members of a team of educators are confident that they have the ability to make a difference in a school, it can have a significant impact on the school culture and achievement” (Donohoo, Hattie, & Eells, 2018, p. 41).

As with any celebration, consider how to make it special, such as through certificates of achievement, a reception, music, and so on. After all, the guiding coalition is the team that models what a high-functioning collaborative team looks like. By intentionally recognizing and celebrating actions, accomplishments, and progress toward what is valued, you demonstrate alignment with the principles you deem important. In their book Starting a Movement, Kenneth C. Williams and Tom Hierck (2016) note that “aligned celebration helps sustain the momentum for change, validates the initiators and movers, and convinces the holdouts that the work is worth the struggle” (p. 159).

Conclusion

If someone asked you what is celebrated in your district or school, what would your answer be? What if they asked your students the same question? And what about your family and community members? The way you celebrate—or fail to celebrate—reflects the type of culture your district or school fosters. The following chapters each highlight a different group, including students, staff members, and the community. By creating intentional celebrations

in each of these groups, along with overarching district- or schoolwide celebrations, you can reach your organization’s shared vision and surpass your shared goals.

Tools to Promote Celebrations

To support your work toward building a culture of celebration, this chapter includes the following tools.

• “The Power of a Culture of Celebration” (page 24): Use this tool to engage staff members in reflecting on the power and purpose of celebration. It will support conversations focused on current practices and potential next steps in a culture of celebration.

• “What’s Your Why?” (page 26): This tool prompts staff to reflect on their personal why and educational beliefs. This is a critical step in connecting the whys of individuals to the why of an organization to maximize both commitment and impact. Once staff members complete the activity, they can use it to get to know each other better. They can accomplish this by sharing in teams or during whole-group meetings. Our favorite way to share, however, is by displaying each person’s why on a bulletin board in a common area for all to read. This is an excellent way to keep your why at the forefront of your mind and realize how others’ whys influence their actions and decision making.

• “School Culture of Celebration Continuum” and “District Culture of Celebration Continuum” (pages 27 and 28): These celebration continuum tools support assessing the current reality of a culture of celebration in your district or school. They are designed to help you evaluate your stage of celebration implementation, reflect on celebration practices that are working well, and consider how to progress through the continuum stages to the sustaining level. We recommend using the continuum tool to kick-start the work. You can use the continuum tool with your administrative team, your guiding coalition, or the entire staff to thoughtfully plan next steps.

• “Culture of Celebration Survey” (page 29): This survey gauges current perceptions of the culture of celebration in a school or district. It serves to gather staff members’ feedback and their thoughts and ideas about potential next steps to develop a strong culture of recognition and celebration.

• “Powerful Celebrations, Small and Grand” (page 31): This tool provides a space for staff members or the guiding coalition to consider the current celebration practices and jot down ideas gleaned from other sources, such as community members and families, to create meaningful student, staff, and community celebrations.

• “Celebration Planning” (page 33): To help you create intentional celebrations, we recommend adding celebrations as an agenda item for guiding coalition meetings at the beginning of the school year. In these meetings, you can discuss how you will cultivate a culture of celebrating staff members,

students, and the community. Organizational researchers Chip Heath and Dan Heath (2017) remind us, “The ‘occasionally remarkable’ moments shouldn’t be left to chance! They should be planned for, invested in” (p. 53). As with any practice, intentional planning is essential for successful implementation. This tool is designed to help you consolidate ideas from the “Powerful Celebrations, Small and Grand” tool and create concrete plans for thoughtfully carrying out celebrations throughout the year. Record specific details on what will be celebrated how, when, and by whom.

• “End-of-Year Celebration Reflection” (page 34): The guiding coalition uses this tool to document accomplishments and celebrations across the year and reflect on them. They can use these reflections to create next steps for the following school year.

Reflection

Take a moment to reflect on what you learned in this chapter. What inspired you? Use the prompts on the next page to record some final thoughts.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Wow! List celebration ideas you hadn’t considered before that now make a ton of sense to you.

Right on! List celebration thoughts that validate what you are already implementing in your district or school.

next steps! List celebration thoughts to discuss with your guiding coalition, administrative team, or collaborative team and begin implementing your ideas.

Share evidence of your current celebration practices.

if you could change one aspect of celebrations in your school, what would it be?

What ideas do you have to make celebration part of the school culture?

References

Casas, J. (2017). Culturize: Every student. Every day. Whatever it takes. Dave Burgess Consulting. Deal, T. E., & Key, M. K. (1998). Corporate celebration: Play, purpose, and profit at work. Berrett-Koehler. DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., Many, T. W., Mattos, M., & Muhammad, A. (2024). Learning by doing: A handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work (4th ed.). Solution Tree Press. Evans, R. (1996). The human side of school change: Reform, resistance, and the real-life problems of innovation. Jossey-Bass. Hodges, T. (2015, May 22). Don’t wait until the school year ends to recognize teachers [Blog post]. Accessed at https://news.gallup .com/opinion/gallup/183398/don-wait-until-school-year-end-recognize-teachers.aspx on July 28, 2024. Kanold, T. D. (2017). HEART! Fully forming your professional life as a teacher and leader. Solution Tree Press. Muhammad, A. (2018). Transforming school culture: How to overcome staff division (2nd ed.). Solution Tree Press.

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name

What’s Your Why?

Insert Your District or School Logo Here

Why did you choose your profession?

Why did you choose to work at ?

Why did you choose to work in your current position?

Source: Creswell, S., McClain, E., & Traicoff, K. S. (2025). Anchor your vision: Navigational tools and strategies for every stage in a PLC at Work. Solution Tree Press, p. 37. © 2025 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

School Culture of Celebration Continuum

Instructions: i ndividually , read the indicators that describe each stage of the continuum from preinitiating to sustaining. Honestly assess the current reality of your organization’s culture of celebration by checking the appropriate boxes. Consider what evidence or anecdotes support your assessment. e xplain your rationale in the space provided.

Celebrations are intentionally connected to the mission, vision, values (collective commitments), and goals.

Celebrations are intentionally planned and thoughtfully paced frequently throughout the year. a ll staff members take collective responsibility for celebration efforts.

Staff celebrations focus on a thoughtful balance of various big-moment awards and in-themoment recognition.

Staff members perceive celebrations to be intentional, meaningful, and motivating.

Student celebrations are part of all classroom settings and are consistent across grade levels, departments, and so on.

Students perceive celebrations as meaningful and motivating.

Students consistently recognize and celebrate one another.

Celebrations are an integral part of the school culture, and staff members recognize and celebrate students and one another.

Celebrations occur as a natural part of the school culture and are routinely embedded in all collaborative team and school meetings.

Culture of Celebration Continuum Stages

Celebration indicator: It is evident that celebrations are embedded within the school culture Preinitiating

Celebrations are connected to some of the mission, vision, values (collective commitments), and goals.

Celebrations are intentionally and thoughtfully planned and carried out.

The administration and some staff members work together on celebration efforts.

Staff celebrations focus on a thoughtful balance of various big-moment awards and in-the-moment recognition.

Staff members perceive celebrations to be intentional and meaningful.

Student celebrations frequently occur in the classroom setting and are consistent across grade levels, departments, and so on.

Students perceive celebrations as meaningful. Students often recognize and celebrate one another.

Celebrations are an integral part of the school culture, and staff members recognize and celebrate students.

Celebrations frequently occur at collaborative team and school meetings.

Celebrations are loosely connected to the mission, vision, values (collective commitments), and goals.

Celebrations are often discussed but not always carried out.

The administration is perceived as in charge of the majority of celebration efforts.

Staff celebrations are primarily focused on a traditional bigmoment award.

Staff members perceive celebrations to be intentional.

Student celebrations frequently occur in the classroom setting but vary by individual classroom teachers.

Students perceive celebrations as meaningful.

Students occasionally recognize and celebrate one another.

Student celebrations frequently occur and are primarily focused on big moments. Celebrations occasionally occur at collaborative team and school meetings.

Celebrations are not connected to the mission, vision, values (collective commitments), and goals.

Celebrations are not intentionally planned and carried out.

The administration is perceived as in charge of all celebration efforts.

Staff celebrations are primarily focused on a traditional bigmoment award.

Staff celebrations are infrequent and inconsistent.

Staff members perceive celebrations not to be intentional, meaningful, or motivating.

Student celebrations occasionally occur in the classroom setting but vary by individual classroom teachers.

Students perceive celebrations as unimportant.

Students rarely recognize and celebrate one another.

Student celebrations occasionally occur and are primarily focused on big moments.

Celebrations occasionally occur at collaborative team and school meetings.

Student celebrations rarely occur in the classroom setting and vary by individual classroom teachers.

Students perceive celebrations as unimportant.

Students rarely recognize and celebrate one another.

Student celebrations rarely occur and are primarily focused on big moments.

Celebrations rarely occur at collaborative team and school meetings.

i believe our school is at the stage of a culture of celebration. The evidence to support my rationale includes:

Culture of Celebration Survey

Instructions: This survey is designed to collect information about our celebrations. For each statement, (1) indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree by circling D , N , or A ; and (2) write evidence to support your answer.

Our Vision: Our Mission: Leading Indicators Disagree Neutral Agree

our celebrations connect to our vision statement.

our celebrations connect to our mission statement.

our celebrations are inspiring and motivating to staff members.

our celebrations are inspiring and motivating to students.

our celebrations are shared publicly.

our families support and appreciate our celebrations.

n a our celebrations create connectedness to one another.

Tally and Total

Share your thoughts on our current celebrations.

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do we have opportunities for many people to be celebrated?

What ideas do you have for celebrations for staff members?

What ideas do you have for celebrations for students?

do you feel our celebrations are meaningful, inspiring, and motivating? if so, how? if not, why not?

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What is the celebration?

Staff Celebrations (Grand)

What

Community Celebrations (Small)

What

Community Celebrations (Grand)

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Celebration Planning

Instructions: Create an agenda item for a guiding coalition or administrative team meeting to synthesize the “Powerful Celebrations, Small and Grand” tool (page 31) to plan celebrations throughout the year. Consider aligning with the school mission, supporting the shared vision, honoring values (collective commitments), and helping to advance progress toward achieving goals.

Behavior or Action Celebration Evidence Celebration Location

Grade-level dance party for hitting attendance goal per semester.

Celebration Focus Area

e xample: i mprove schoolwide attendance. Create levels of attendance actions for number of days absent. For example, after seven absences, conference with parents or guardians; after fifteen absences, do a home visit; and so on.

Gymnasium

End-of-Year Celebration Reflection

Instructions: as a guiding coalition, reflect on the school year and document the many accomplishments and celebrations. Use your reflections to create next steps for the following school year.

Date Grade or Department

Recipient or Recipients

Example

Monthly Sixth Grade The Character Caught award for recognition of exemplifying the monthly grade level–chosen character traits one student per homeroom class

Reflection

This worked well in the grade level. However, we wondered if it overlapped with the schoolwide character ticket incentive program for students. Could the sixth-grade team members use the schoolwide monthly character tickets instead of the ones they created?

Date Grade or Department

Reflection

Recipient or Recipients

Date

Reflection

or Department

Recipient or Recipients

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MOTIVATE CELEBRATE TO

In Celebrate to Motivate: The Art of Inspiring Students, Staff, and the School Community, Shawn Creswell and Katy Sue Traicoff advocate that celebrating is an integral, transformative component of school culture in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) at Work. Through anecdotes from fellow teachers, ready-to-use tools, and adherence to the foundational principles of PLCs, the authors offer readers myriad ways to assess and adjust classroom and schoolwide practices to make celebration a regular, active part of the culture. By establishing a community spirit of affirmation and support through empowering rituals of recognition and joy, K–12 teachers and administrators will ensure continued growth and learning for all.

READERS WILL:

• Assess the significance and impact of celebration practices through reflective tools and surveys

• Develop daily classroom rituals to recognize individual accomplishments

• Plan yearly schoolwide events to mark community achievements and successes

• Inspire continued improvement and excellence through regular celebration and mentorship

• Unite students, staff, and family in supportive community networks of mutual celebration

“Celebrate to Motivate is exactly the book educators need right now. In a profession that can feel overwhelming and exhausting, this book is a joyful, research-based reminder that celebration isn’t just a nice extra—it’s a game changer. With humor, heart, and practical strategies, the authors show how small, intentional moments of celebration can reignite passion, boost morale, and create a ripple effect of positivity in schools.”

—TINA H. BOOGREN Educator, Author, and Advocate for Educator Wellness

“In the fast-paced world of education, celebration often takes a back seat to pressing priorities. This powerful guide offers schools and districts a treasure trove of creative, practical ideas to meaningfully celebrate students, staff, and the entire school community. This is an incredible resource for educators seeking to cultivate a positive, motivated, and thriving school culture by recognizing and amplifying the greatness happening all around them!”

—KAIT WHITAKER

Principal, Trails West Elementary School, Centennial, Colorado

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