A friend and fellow teacher and I made plans after attending the Greater Good Summer Institute in Berkeley, California to celebrate kindness. We both work in an inner-city elementary school where needs are great and burnout is high.
We wanted to try an experiment to see if we could
begin a movement toward a more compassionate, kind community, and in the process, renew ourselves. This is how the Kindness Coalition was born. We submitted the idea to KindSpring, and won a monthly prize.
In the time that has passed, amazing things have taken root. We began by giving everyone on staff a personally-grown small potted plant and a kindness quote, with encouragement to pass the spirit forward. Since then, we have bought small gifts and anonymously placed them in mailboxes or workspaces, along with a quote and a tag from the Kindness Coalition. We keep track of people we've tagged, and encourage them to pay it forward.
We have a wonderful coffee station supplied by our local Starbucks and other spontaneous volunteers who bring treats and creamers. We have a Random Acts of Kindness board, very full of appreciative thank you notes. We've even let in a fifth grade class on the secret club. Students are starting to make notes of appreciation and practice other random acts of kindness, too, for staff and for other students. Our school has become a kinder, friendlier, and happier place.
We wanted to try an experiment to see if we could
begin a movement toward a more compassionate, kind community, and in the process, renew ourselves. This is how the Kindness Coalition was born. We submitted the idea to KindSpring, and won a monthly prize.In the time that has passed, amazing things have taken root. We began by giving everyone on staff a personally-grown small potted plant and a kindness quote, with encouragement to pass the spirit forward. Since then, we have bought small gifts and anonymously placed them in mailboxes or workspaces, along with a quote and a tag from the Kindness Coalition. We keep track of people we've tagged, and encourage them to pay it forward.
We have a wonderful coffee station supplied by our local Starbucks and other spontaneous volunteers who bring treats and creamers. We have a Random Acts of Kindness board, very full of appreciative thank you notes. We've even let in a fifth grade class on the secret club. Students are starting to make notes of appreciation and practice other random acts of kindness, too, for staff and for other students. Our school has become a kinder, friendlier, and happier place.
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- Posted by Novice50
- Mar 5, 2021
- Comments (9)
Readers Comments
sharmilakumar wrote: What a joy to read and what a happy place it must be
mindyjourney wrote: Same here! Just found your post as well :)). Thank you for being such a kindness force!!! All kinds of ripples :)). Blessings.
mish wrote: Just found your post today and can see why you were a kindness contest award recipient. Profoundly wonderful !!
debbe530 wrote: Spreading kindness in schools can make such a difference on the lives of students and teachers. Well done you!
iman wrote: awesome::>>>
mgliberation wrote: How inspiring! Thank you!
smileswithhope wrote: Wow- great to read about your kindness in action! Such beautiful ripples-- great to hear how you and your friend are spreading regenerative smiles.
melnotes wrote: This is WONDERFUL!
wavingatyou wrote: Bravo! Well done :) Spreading happy everywhere :)
