It's important to be proactive in your relationship with your school's administration. If your relationship is strained, there is more power in looking inward than placing blame outward, as reader Eduardo Torres writes:

"I like to think that a healthy relationship always begins in the realm of respect. As teachers we must look into ourselves first, and set the tone of the relationships that come into our lives. The relationship depends a lot in what you are giving into it."

Building on this concept, other commenters suggest:

• Pleasantly agree with whatever the principal wants today or this week and then immediately go right back to doing what you feel is most effective and right for your students.
• Look at what the principal thinks is valuable in a teacher and try to incorporate that into your professional persona.
• The most important thing we (as teachers) must remember is that the principals are not our friends, but our bosses. Stay on a strictly professional level with your principal.

Overall, I recommend that teachers avoid playing the Blame Game and instead seek out proactive ways to foster positive relationships with principals and colleagues. That's where our power lies.

Heading into the holiday season, it's time to consider how we will infuse our lessons with a little holiday spirit. That's one of the best things about teaching elementary school - celebrating the year's holidays with our young students.

Here are my favorite Christmas lessons for elementary school:

• Christmas Journal Writing Prompts
• Christmas Acrostic Poem Activity
• Multi-Purpose Christmas Vocabulary Word Bank
• Sample Christmas Math Word Problems
• Christmas Tongue Twisters Lesson
• Christmas Around the World Lesson Ideas

What are you favorite holiday-themed lessons for December? I'm always on the lookout for more ideas.

With all of the recent blog discussion about on-campus attitudes and how to foster positivity on the job, I felt inspired to compile My Top Tips for Successful Interactions in the Teacher's Lounge.

The overarching theme of these tips is to take every opportunity to foster positivity around campus because you never know when you'll need to cash your chips and ask for a favor from a colleague. The tips represent seven different ways to achieve that goal.

Did I miss anything major? Leave a comment if you've found your own distinct way to make your out-of-the-classroom interactions positive and fruitful.

If you are interested in the complex issue of principals and their influence on staff attitudes, you will want to read all of the comments that came in over the last week on the topic. There were so many thought-provoking comments, but here is one of my favorites from reader Schooner1:

"In my experience there is a negative group that gripes in the Teacher's Lounge, and a positive group who plans better teaching. Avoid the former and participate in the latter. I also feel many Principals are to [blame]. Most that I've worked with got out of real teaching as fast as they could for the greater pay & prestige of administration. They don't know or support good teaching or risk taking. They are often anchored in past practices and engage in favoritism."

What are your most powerful strategies for staying positive when surrounded by negativity on campus?

Personally, I agree with Schooner1 when it comes to the importance of avoiding the complainers in the staff lounge and gravitating instead toward the teachers who stay on the sunny side. Actually, that's a good strategy for all areas of life, whether you're a teacher or not, right?