How do we see our students when they walk in the door, full of color or drab and grayscale?

I enjoy photography and capturing different colors wherever I might be. Those colors are life giving to me, they give me energy to keep moving.

The one thing I never thought about with color had to do with my students and myself.

Instead of looking at just what colors the students might be, I really need to think of what colors do I represent to my students and to others?

I want students to see learning as a colorful time, a time of joy, mistakes, successes, questions. Each of those words produces a different color in my mind, but when blended altogether, make a wonderfully colorful image.

If you present yourself on a grayscale and students see learning as drab, unfulfilling or boring then there will be no color in our world. Learning must be centered around being different, being colorful, being curious.

“It will drastically change your mindset, each day a journey to capture as much color as possible.”

The colors that your students present each day show the type of learning that is happening in your school. I greet students each day at our entrance, standing outside no matter the weather, each student by name and hopefully give them a little burst of color to start their day (my bright yellow coat might help too 😇).

What colors will you capture today, tomorrow, or next week? Will those colors be shown to students or will you keep them hidden? Will students begin to show more color in class because the learning is engaging them?

Think of each day as a color run. Each person starts the race with a white t-shirt, but by the end of the race every single person is covered in color, all different. Our students deserve to leave each day full of color, each one a different shade of the learning that happened during the day.

Challenge yourself to become more colorful. Take the opportunity to be different and share those colors with students. It will drastically change your mindset, each day a journey to capture as much color as possible.