What is Glitter Friday?
Apart from it being the weekly devotion of all things sparkly, Glitter Friday is a concept which was formed as the result of a beautiful epiphany in my classroom.
Several years ago now on a Friday morning, my class and I were in the midst of our Literacy Group session.
One of my new students, a shy ESL boy, had previously been far too low in confidence to try reading in front of his peers.
Weeks had passed and he still wasn’t brave enough to try. On this Friday however and much to the amazement of the other group members and I, rather than shaking his head and blushing with embarrassment, he did take his turn and he read a whole sentence perfectly!
It was wonderful! We all clapped and praised his courage and celebrated his achievements with the rest of the class.
At some stage during the jubilation, one of my Munchkins piped up and said:
“Something good always happens on Fridays!”
“Yeah it does,” someone said.
“Does it?” I queried, thinking back to my horrid yard duty incident last Friday…
“Yeah, we always do something fun and something good always happens to someone.”
A spontaneous discussion ensued: a treasured lost pencil had been found; someone scored 10/10 for the first time on their spelling test; the very first piano performance by someone else at assembly had been a success and another little boy had been chosen to join a basketball team at recess – “Even though I don’t really know how to play properly!”
Yes, we all agreed that good things do happen on Fridays. 
As for the glitter? Well, we decided that glitter represents magic and because these things all occurred on a Friday (as if by magic!), we began to refer to Fridays as ‘Glitter Fridays.’
We started to recognise and acknowledge even more of these lovely learning moments and proudly shared our stories of success.
My students taught me new things that they had learnt in their Italian lessons and praised me for my achievements – a beautiful role-reversal!
This was drawn for me by a student in an Italian classroom; within minutes of meeting me! How did she know?
Now that I travel from school to school, I introduce the concept of ‘Glitter Fridays’ wherever I go!
I encourage the students and their teachers to celebrate the many wonderful learning moments that have occurred throughout the week – especially the excitement of learning new words and phrases in another language!
My Glitter Friday lessons focus upon teaching students about the importance of self-love and respect. These are always special lessons.
We write about our achievements and acknowledge the reasons why we’re proud of ourselves; listen to lovely music; and decorate our work beautifully. 
And of course, I always sprinkle some ‘Light and Love’ around the classroom xx