Observe and honor random acts of kindness among your students.  Hold an honor day once a week to hand out certificates.  Acknowledge that there were so many other random acts of kindness that you could not honor everyone, but everyone will get honored in time.  Acknowledge how you felt observing these acts.  Perhaps a kindness box could be placed in the classroom where both you and your students could describe random acts of kindness you observed.  So as not to make anyone feel awkward, the recipient of the kindnesses need not be mentioned.  Care must be taken so avoid details which would reveal the recipient. 

Print out each student’s name and place it in a box.  Have students randomly pick out a name.  Be sure to also place your name in the box.  Several days later, students write complimentary or caring message to that student.  This works best if you give students sentence stems so the comments do not become meaningless such as, “I like you,” “Your are a good friend,” or “You’re nice”.    Examples of sentence stems might be:

I saw you ….

I like how you….

It was very considerate of you when you….

The stems can be brainstormed together as a class.  If you feel there are any inappropriate comments, just replace the message with one you complete.  To make this action more sincere, especially for older students, the student doing the complimenting need not be identified.

Write out a message on a card for each student.  Hide the message somewhere where only that students will find it such as in the student’s desk, attached to papers you are returning, taped underneath the student’s desk, or as a bookmark in a student’s book.  It is best to put the messages in a colorful or unique envelope with the student’s name on it in case someone who is not the intended recipient finds it.

Practice good deeds.  Students select someone for whom they will do a good deed in the coming week.  A discussion can be held on how students felt when doing their good deed and how the recipient of their good deed must have felt.  Is it important that the recipient even knew a good deed was bestowed?  There can be numerous variations.

Students randomly select another student in the classroom. 

Students select an adult or another student in the building, but not in the classroom. 

Students select family members or important adults in their lives.

Build awareness for those less fortunate.  This can take many forms, but even small children can learn empathy.  Homeless shelters, especially the children in those shelters, always have needs.  Just collecting new pencils or coloring books and crayons is just one example.  Older children may want to collect gloves, mittens, and blankets for the homeless who are living outside.  Food pantries are always in need of canned goods.

A Challenge

Show care for a faculty or staff member with whom you have had an unpleasant experience.  Surprise that person with a bouquet of flowers or a “secret Santa” type gift.  Acknowledging that you were the give of the gift is not necessary.  If this does not seem like a credible option, write a note acknowledging the work of someone in your building whom you feel has not been properly recognized for outstanding service.  The note may or may not be signed.

Elizabeth A. Wink

prayerfulteaching@gmail.com