We as educators are the determiners of our classroom environment. We have the responsibility and opportunity each day to create and maintain a kind and welcoming classroom environment for our students to learn in. How our students treat each other is going to play largely into our classroom environment as well. We can control our actions and decisions, but can we change our classroom environment through our students? Mobile Ed has a few ways to integrate kindness into our lesson plans. 

Have you heard of Kindness Week? Or Random Acts of Kindness Day? As an educator, you probably have, but these holidays are coming up fast. What started as a small week of celebration in New Zealand has now become celebrated across the globe where it grows in popularity each year by individuals, organizations, and even schools. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has started providing specified resources for different groups, including schools. You can find their materials here. 

Teaching kindness and SEL in schools has incredible benefits for students both inside and outside of the classroom. Among other personal benefits including increasing academic performance and improving mental health, it’s also proven that implementing SEL standards reduces levels of bullying in schools. But not only can writing improve social-emotional skills, but the opposite is also true; the more aware students are aware of themselves, their emotions, and their relationships, the more their writing can improve. They could be considered two sides of the same coin.  

Here are a few ways we as educators can do to encourage kindness in our classrooms:

• • • Pair Students Up When You Can. Having students work together allows students to practice social-emotional learning as well as kindness. 

• • • Use Positive Affirmations. Words are the strongest tools we have. Affirming students during your lesson is a great way to encourage students, set the tone for your class, and help students see themselves in a positive light. 

• • • Bring in a Program. Assemblies are a great way to get students excited about kindness. Ant--bullying programs and kindness assemblies making learning about kindness exciting and engaging. Find information about Mobile Ed's Quest for Kindness program here. 

• • • Encourage Shout-Outs. Who doesn't like to be appreciated and recognized for their hard work? Provide a few minutes in your lesson to shout out a few focused students or have your students shout out their peers. Watch the culture of your classroom change drastically!
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    • Check in Regularly. Checking in with Students during your lessons is a great way to exemplify what it means to care for other's well-being. It's a simple yet effective tool to help us care for one another and help one another. Doing this often can create healthy habits with your students. 

Mobile Ed has developed a school assembly designed to help educators teach social-emotional learning skills. In Quest for Kindness, students become adventurers as they go on an exciting quest in search of the Key to Kindness! The “legendary treasure" will unlock what it means to be kind to the people around us. With audience participation and interactive challenges, students won’t want this adventure to end! 

Quest for Kindness includes information about: 

• • • Identifying emotions
    • Stress management
    • Empathy
    • Respect
    • Bullying and cyberbullying prevention 
    • Bystanders v. upstanders

Contact Mobile Ed for more information on available programs.