CURRICULUM

OVERNIGHT PROGRAM

APPRECIATION TAPS, AKA "TAP-PRECIATIONS"

APPRECIATION TAPS, AKA “TAP-PRECIATIONS”

IslandWood Staff Instructor Talia Schmitt, shares how she leads an appreciation circle (“tap-preciations”) as a closing activity for School Overnight Program students in her field group.

It is the end of a 5th grade School Overnight Program week at IslandWood. Kids have 30 minutes until they are loaded up on their buses, and their eyes are already brimming with tears. “Can we go to school here every week?” they ask. This is when I bring out tap-preciations. One last chance for students to connect with each other while they are all going through this bonding experience.

 

Students sit in a circle and close their eyes. As the instructor, I walk around and choose a few students to be the “tappers.” Everyone else keeps their head resting on the table, to prevent any peeking eyes. Then I offer the “tappers” some prompts. “Tap the shoulder of someone who made you laugh this week… of someone who stepped up as a leader this week… who showed care for their human and more-than-human communities.” The list goes on, and one after the other, the tappers walk around tapping the shoulders of as many students as they can.

 

Students squeal in their seats with big smiles as they get tapped. The teachers who are chosen as tappers help ensure that everyone is included. The student tappers walk around proudly, but quietly, trying to keep their identity a secret.

 

After about 5-8 prompts, I tell the tappers to return to their seats and close their eyes. Then everyone opens their eyes, blinking from their light, smiling from the gratitudes. If time allows, we’ll do the activity again. This time I’ll switch the roles so that the tappers get to be appreciated, and the appreciated get to be tappers. It quickly becomes clear that there is great joy in both giving and receiving appreciation taps.

 

At the end, we will all go back to siting in our circle. As we go around the circle, each student gives out a one-word description for how they’re feeling in that moment.

 

“Happy. Thankful. Calm,” kids often say.

 

And, it turns out this activity works for more than just kids. At a recent IslandWood all-staff meeting, I helped facilitate this for a group of adults.

 

“It was the gentle gratitude we all needed,” someone remarked.

 

Give it a try for yourself and your group – kids or adults! – and let us know how it goes.

Talia, center, with a group of SOP students in the Great Hall
IMG_5420
Talia leading a group of SOP students in a mushroom identification lesson at the Friendship Circle

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