Encouraging Students in Kindness
My name is Sarah, and I teach the most awesome middle schoolers around!
In addition to teaching language arts, I have the honor of supervising our school’s Kindness Club. The Kindness Club is a student-created organization devoted to spreading messages of love and positivity around our school.
One of my favorite Kindness Club initiatives has been the addition of a daily kindness quote to our morning announcements. Another fun activity was celebrating Teacher Appreciation Day by giving every teacher at our school a flower and a card full of affirming messages from students. Probably my favorite activity of all has been our “Free Compliment Days”. On the afternoon before a compliment day, Kindness Club members stay after school in my classroom and decorate over 300 sticky notes with inspiring messages. They then stick an uplifting note on the locker of every middle schooler. The next day, these same dedicated students arrive at school extra early and stand by the entrances to the building with a sign that reads “Free Compliments!” We play happy music and shout out compliments to our peers. It is SO much fun to watch students yell out everything from, “Your face is beautiful!” to “Your sneakers are poppin’!” I also love seeing the expressions on the faces of students who are receiving these wonderful compliments!
I believe that one of my most important roles as a teacher is to encourage students to be kind to each other.
I believe wholeheartedly that kindness can change the world, and my middle school students prove it to me daily!
