Time
10 minutes
Frequency
Weekly
Material
Slips of paper
Purpose
To build healthy relationship skills by sharing positive messages with others
Establish classroom norms regarding acceptable compliments. Hand out slips of paper to everyone (including all staff).
- Ask everyone to write their name at the top of the page.
- Fold the paper in half.
- Collect the papers, and then let everyone select a folded paper. Students can only re-select a new name if they choose their own.
- Write a compliment or positive affirmation to the person whose name appears at the top of their slip of paper and sign it. Remind students to focus on the person’s character or something nice they have done, versus their physical appearance or possessions.
- Collect all slips of paper again. Scan each compliment to ensure that they follow the classroom norms before it is returned to the person it belongs to.
- You can choose any day of the week for this practice.
- At the end of the school year, if Compliment Friday has been practiced consistently:
- Each student puts their name at the top of a full 8.5” x 11” sheet of paper.
- Everyone in the room has two minutes to write a compliment on another student’s piece of paper.
- After each two-minute interval, have the students rotate to the next piece of paper. When complete, each person has a piece of paper with many compliments on it.
- This activity would take close to the whole period to complete as a wrap-up activity at the end of a course.
Research shows that students and staff benefit from being known. Adolescents report that getting to know their peers through authentic exchanges, and discovering similarities with others, helps to foster long-standing friendships (Narr et al., 2019, Brown & Larson, 2009). Furthermore, close friendships during the teen years bolster mental health and resilience for youth in the future (Narr et al., 2019). In a study completed by Nelson, Caldarella, Young & Webb (2008) Peer Praise Notes were written by all classmates to others and this activity was shown to have a significantly positive impact on ongoing student engagement with peers for even the most at-risk adolescent students.
Brown, B.B., Larson, J. (2009). Peer Relationships in Adolescence. In Handbook of Adolescent Psychology (eds. Lerner, R.M., Steinberg, L.), 74-103.
Narr, R.K., Allen, J.P., Tan, J.S., Loeb, E.L. (2019). Close Friendship Strength and Broader Peer Group Desirability as Differential Predictors of Adult Mental Health. Child Development, 90(1), 298–313. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12905
Nelson, J. A. P., Caldarella, P., Young, K. R., & Webb, N. (2008). Using peer praise notes to increase the social involvement of withdrawn adolescents. Teaching exceptional children, 41(2), 6-13.
Verschueren, K., & Koomen, H. M. (2012). Teacher–child relationships from an attachment perspective. Attachment & human development, 14(3), 205-211
“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” (Romans 12:10)
When we recognize and acknowledge the gifts of others, we are creating relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
(1d) A discerning believer formed in the Catholic Faith Community who develops attitudes and values founded on Catholic social teaching and acts to promote social responsibility, human solidarity and the common good.
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