Kindness at J.Y.

Joyner Elementary School

The first-grade class I have been working with at J.Y. Joyner Elementary School work

very well with one another and, for the most part, get along. My field partner and I noticed that at

times, students were unkind to each other and did not always know how to process their

emotions when it came to these situations. Noticing this, Brooke and I determined that there was

room for growth in this area.

Kindness is an essential part of a safe classroom environment. It is important for students

to feel comfortable and respected, so they are able to focus on their learning. When peers are

able to work together and get along, learning is a very enjoyable and positive experience!

Students also need to learn how to process their emotions when a moment of conflict or

unkindness occurs. It is important for children to know how to express their feelings in a calm

and effective manor, instead of escalating the situation through tears and unkind words. We want

students to spread kindness throughout the classroom and beyond and to step up when they see

someone being treated unkindly.

We first noticed this issue during our engineering nano bug lesson. Students were

working in groups to create a maze for a robot bug. Overall, the lesson was successful, and the

children had fun! However, there was a particular group, pictured below, that spent some of the

time arguing and using unkind words. They fought over the materials and put down each other’s

ideas. When one student felt disrespected, he retaliated with frustration. These kinds of situations

disrupt learning, but more importantly, they upset the students. That is why we believe this issue

deserves attention.


Action Plan

Social Action Plan Steps with Timeline:

Week 1

1. Discuss the topic with our mentor teacher

At this time, we need to find out more about how Ms. Wing addresses kindness with her

class. How does she reprimand children when she notices unkind acts? Have they had

lessons on the topic before? Has bullying been an issue in her class or school

community? What obstacles does she think we will face when addressing this topic with

students?

2. Introduce the idea of kindness to students through a reading

During this step we will read a book called “Be Kind” by Pat Zietlow Miller. It is a great

book to get students thinking about what it actually means to be kind.

 3. Have students watch a video that demonstrates kindness

This will give students a visual of what a kind act looks like. They can also start to think

about the more abstract forms of kindness. Kind acts can look very different from one

another.

Week 2

1. Have students act out different scenarios of kind and unkind acts

This will give students the chance to learn about the various ways we can react in

certain situations and how they can have very different outcomes. At this time, students

will also learn good ways to respond when someone says or does something unkind to

them.

2. Discuss expectations for each other as a class

Now that the students have been learning about kindness, it is a good time for the class

to set expectations for each other. How does each student want to be treated by their

peers? What does kindness look like to them? What do we do as a class if we notice

someone being unkind? We will record these expectations and post them where

everyone in the class can see!

3. Provide the class with a class kindness jar

Throughout the year students can fill out slips when they notice an act of kindness. At

designated times the teacher can pull a few out and read them to the class. This will
 remind students how important it is to be kind to one another and set a very positive

and inspiring mood.

1. Have students brainstorm ideas on how they can take action to spread kindness

throughout their school and surrounding community

Now students can take what they learned and spread it outside of the classroom. We

will challenge the class to come up with a plan to spread awareness throughout the

school, such as posters or a presentation. Kindness is something that should be

practiced by everyone. We should teach our students to be active citizens who

promote positive social change.

Involving the school community

As mentioned before, kindness should go beyond just the classroom. We want our class

to take what they have learned about being kind and spread awareness throughout the

school and surrounding community. We would need to communicate with the principle and

other school administrators, teachers, and parents to ensure that everyone understands

what our goal is. It is important to gain their support so that the kindness can spread and

remain consistent throughout the community.

Some individuals may resist these efforts such as administrators and other teachers.

They might view these efforts as a waste of instructional time. However, I believe that if we

explain how important kindness is in order to maintain a safe school environment for
learning, I think they will be on board. They need to know that on top of standard curriculum,

students also need to learn how to become productive citizens in our society.

Resources

Not many resources are needed for this plan. The main resources are the book and kindness

jar that appear at the beginning of our lesson. The ones we used for our lesson is pictured below.

Outcomes:

By implementing this plan, we hope to show students the meaning and importance of being

kind! We also hope they will have a better understanding of how to process their emotions and to

express their feelings in a respectful way when they are treated unkindly. We want students to

feel inspired to spread kindness outside of their classroom into the surrounding school and

community and to stand up for those who are treated unkindly.

 Implementation

Brooke and I have implemented a portion of our action plan to the class. First, we read

them the “Be Kind” book by Pat Zietlow Miller to spark conversation. We talked about what it

means to be kind, what bullying is, and how it feels to be embarrassed. These were all important

parts of the story. We also gave students the chance to share personal experiences. Next, we

showed the class a heartwarming video about a dog and bird who show acts of kindness towards

each other. It also showed examples of unkind acts. Following the video, we gave students a

worksheet to assess their understanding of the meaning and importance of kindness. The last

thing we did was give the class their very own kindness jar.

We had positive results following the lesson. Students were able to answer most of the

questions correctly and were able to draw acts of kindness. They seemed engaged throughout the

lesson and were willing to share. The following weeks after our lesson, it appeared that some

slips have been added to their class jar, but not as many as we had hoped.

The next step for our plan would be to begin discussions and activities about how we can

best approach certain situations. How can we appropriately express our feelings when someone

is unkind to us? What should we do when we see an unkind act? After that, students would begin

planning on how they would like to spread kindness outside of the classroom. We want our

students to become advocates for kindness and to step up when they see someone being

mistreated. A change I would make is implementing the kindness jar later into the plan when

students have a full understanding of the topic. Hopefully this will help with the lack of slips we

have seen in the jar!