By signing up to be a teacher, you sign up to wear many hats. 

One of the most important hats you will wear during the course of the day is the "Middle School Cheerleader" cap. 

A good cheerleader brings the energy, brings the smiles, and brings the fun. A good cheerleader is also an encourager. She's the one who sees when the team or individual is loosing stream and finds the right words or moves to energize.

The cheerleader cap as an educator is one of the most important. A strong teacher is one who can influence the energy of the room and infuse joy and positivity while also remaining aware of the energy in the room and what is needed to manipulate it. 

One important skill that I recently taught my students was the importance of being one's own cheerleader. I told them, "You know who is the only person who will be with you your whole life?". One of my sarcastic seventh graders replied, "My mom". The class laughed and I reminded him of the realities of life expectancy. Then, I said, "That person who will be with you your whole life, is you. And you know what? Most of the time we are the most critical person in our lives. Our self talk is negative. We routinely beat ourselves up for small mistakes. We are not good cheerleaders for ourselves.". The silence in the room as I spoke let me know that they were listening and that the words struck a cord with their reality. 

After my introductory speech, I then showed them one of my favorite practices for being one's own cheerleader: affirmations. I posted several links on their google classroom that gave them examples of "I am" affirmations. We read through a few on the list and then I proceeded to show them a page of my own journal. I showed them how I routinely use affirmations to start my day. The affirmations early in the morning serve as a "pump-up talk" like before a big basketball game. Sports metaphors always seem to help middle schoolers because one of my girls said, "Oh yeah, like when you're down in the fourth quarter and you need words of encouragement so you can hit the big shot!". "Exactly!", I said, "It's just like that, but the big shot ahead of you is the rest of the day". I then read off some of my own affirmations (a move of vulnerability...middle schoolers love and admire vulnerability). Some were as follows: "I am a hurricane of a woman", "I am a woman who lets positivity and joy radiate", "I am a woman of love in love with life", "I am force of nature", "I am of great influence", "I see beauty in everything around me", etc. 

The vulnerability and the concrete examples excited the kids and they were excited to be their own cheerleaders. They engaged in the activity for a solid 45 minuets and the silence was telling. The kids were feeding themselves. They were encouraging themselves. They were being their own cheerleader.

This is an exercise that I plan to use routinely throughout the year and I hope that many will continue the practice as they advance forward into the wildness of life. I hope they learn to be their own cheerleader because if you're not your biggest fan...then who is?