Kickoff with Kindness

Kickoff with Kindness

   

Happy 2020 Terrific Teachers! Here we go ready to embark on this journey of a new decade. As you begin to plan for this trip called life, I hope you keep in mind that a kind heart will lead to positive outcomes. 

As Teachers, we come back from the Winter Break rested and excited to tackle the rest of the school year. Then work quickly adds up and there is not enough time in the day to catch up. The stress begins to build, and all of a sudden the rested and happy mind we once had is overloaded, leaving us worried and wondering if we can finish all that needs to get done. STOP right now, look in the mirror and tell yourself, "I am an amazing Teacher and I am doing the best I can!" Take it one day at a time as you continue to teach your students to read with a purpose, work out mathematical problems, and prepare them to be great test takers. 

A kind and strong character will encourage amazing life-long learners.

This modern world we live in focuses on less emotional connection, making anger and distrust greater than love and care for others. Adults can be guilty of this.  Therefore, we can understand the impact it has on our lives. Why don't we make this positive change for our students? We expect kids to collaborate and work towards common goals, but we don't understand why they can be socially awkward and dialogue becomes minimal in the classroom. Let's make a change and begin to teach regular acts of kindness and generosity. Students might begin to feel more confident and encouraged to share their thoughts. Students will be happy and encouraging with one another, demonstrating empathy as everyone learns form each other.  All of this will continue to foster strong relationships in the classroom.

"Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education." ~Martin Luther King Jr.

For this month (and hopefully for many more) dedicate some daily time to teach kindness: 

1. Begin each day/week with positive quotes, having students analyze and discuss how the food for thought can apply to our lives.

2. Be a "Bucket Filler." Read the book "How Full is your Bucket" by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer and let your students know that everyone in the class (including the Teacher) will be a "bucket filler," because as you fill someone else's bucket you will also fill your own. 

3. Assign Random Acts of Kindness (January 27-February 1, 2020 is a week designated for World Kindness Challenge), invite the whole school to participate in a spirit week where homework focuses on being kind to others. 

These are just a few examples of what we can do to kickoff 2020 with kindness and hopefully you will come up with more that you will share with others. Studies show that people can't get enough of feel-good emotions because there are many physical and mental health benefits associated with kindness: happy, caring children, greater sense of belonging, improved self-esteem, improved health, having a heart of gratitude, better concentration/improved results, etc. Maurice Elias, Professor at Rutgers University Psychology Department, states, "...without (kindness), communities, families, schools, and classrooms become places of incivility where lasting learning is unlikely to take place. We need to be prepared to teach kindness, because it can be smothered under the weight of poverty, and can be derailed by victimization later in life...Kindness can be taught and it is a defining aspect of civilized human life..." 

Live, Love, Teach.

Hilda Sanchez