“How can you be the good in the world?”
I posed this question to the students of Mrs. Cross’ and Mrs. Burgess’ fourth grade classes during our first kindness lesson in September as we distributed Kindness Journals for them to record their thoughts. The question brought forth a multitude of memories as they shared kind acts they had seen, received, or completed themselves. With each book we read, and each lesson completed, we dove a little deeper in our understanding of empathy and compassion. Our biggest discovery was that there’s no “one way” to be the good for those around us; it’s a choice, a willingness, a determination to step out of our comfort zone to connect with another person in a way that uplifts and inspires.
Due to COVID restrictions, our school year has looked very different than years past. While our face-to-face students attend school five days a week, the new rules of mask wearing and social distancing has forced us to restructure various elements of our lessons. No more flexible seating. No more collaborative small group learning experiences. No more sharing of materials. Change, we quickly learned, was something we would have to embrace.
Understanding the complexities of teaching in a pandemic, we had to make adjustments not only to our lessons, but to our grand Kindness Share Fair celebration as well. We adjusted our timeline to complete projects earlier in the year as we knew the semester transition in January would result in shifting of student attendance between our school and the online school. We also knew we would have to redesign our in-person celebration, as visitors were no longer allowed in the building.
In November, we read Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed and talked about the many ways kindness can multiply from one person to another when shared. We then informed the students that they would receive $10 each to fund a Kindness Passion Project they designed themselves.
They could choose the recipient.
They could choose the kind act.
They could choose how to put good in the world.
Students received their funds in December, thanks to a grant from the Hanover Education Foundation, and together with their families they purchased materials they needed to complete their acts of kindness, documenting the journey with photos and notes.
In January, students worked on articulating their experiences through words and images on a Google Slides presentation. They learned how to safely search for copyright-free images on Pixabay, download/upload pictures on their new Chromebooks, and use basic design principles to create presentations they could share with the world.
We set our Kindness Share Fair dates to coincide with Random Acts of Kindness week, with Mrs. Cross’ class presenting first on National Random Acts of Kindness Day (Feb. 17) and Mrs. Burgess’ class presenting the following day. (Note: Due to inclement weather, Mrs. Burgess’ class will present their projects to one another on a rescheduled date, but their projects are live on the website if you want to take a peek!)
If you know me well, you know that I love celebrating everything, especially kindness! I wanted to make this event as memorable as possible, even with the restrictions, so I put into motion one of my favorite Teach Like a Pirate strategies – using music to set the stage for our celebration.
Literally.
As Mrs. Cross was getting students ready with their Chromebooks, I entered the back of the room, playing “Celebration” by Kool & The Gang, shaking colorful pom-poms, inviting everyone to hop out of their seats and dance with us. The surprise of music and dancing brought huge smiles to the students’ faces!
We taped the pom-poms to the whiteboard and took photos of students holding their projects on display. Students were then given a Kindness Share Fair Project Response Sheet to complete as they viewed their classmates’ projects on Schoology for the first time. They recorded their thoughts, sharing what they liked and learned from the projects, with the goal of providing authentic feedback to their classmates.
After each student had an opportunity to reflect on several students’ projects, we unveiled our official Passion for Kindness website. Excitement bubbled through the room as students saw their projects displayed alongside those of students who had completed projects years before – more than 150 projects in all!
We wrapped up our Kindness Share Fair with students reflecting on their next steps. How will they continue to share kindness in this world? They completed a Call to Action by jotting their thoughts on a sticky note and adding it to the white board.
Everyone agreed that this journey of becoming a Kindness Cultivator has shown us how to be the good in the world. All we have to do is listen to that whisper on our heart then follow through with kind words and actions.
Since our Kindness Share Fair was virtual this year, we are hopeful that you will take a peek at our projects and share your thoughts by commenting on this blog post or sharing your thoughts with Mrs. Cross, Mrs. Burgess, or me (Mrs. Letter). The students know that their projects are being shared with the world and they are very excited to learn more about the impact their kindness has on the hearts of others! If you would like to share our projects, feel free to use this link: http://bit.ly/KindnessPassionProjects.
To view posts of Kindness Share Fairs of the past, please visit the links below. We hope you, too, are inspired to put good in the world!
