Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Payton Doherty
11/30/17
Bringing Compassion Back to the Classroom
During our time at Bugg Elementary School, we noticed that there was a lack of kindness
in our first grade classroom and throughout the entire school. Specifically in Mrs. Kearns first
grade classroom we noticed that the students were extremely disrespectful and mean to one
another. As hard as Mrs. Kearns and the rest of the Bugg Elementary Staff try, they have not
been able to get through to the students on the importance of being kind to each other. With
160,000 students across the nation skipping school each day because of bullying, it is critical that
students understand how to be kind to others. Through these observations, we realized that we
needed to do something to help promote kindness in Mrs. Kearns first grade class and
In schools across the world bullying had become an overwhelming issue. 28% of 6-12
grade students reported being bullied at some point in their high school careers. 9% of 6-12th
grade students reported being bullied online. This has obviously become a huge issue across the
nation. With the negative connotation that comes with bully, we decided to focus on a more
positive aspect. We decided that promoting kindness instead of demoting bullying is was a great
spin off of a typical anti bullying campaign. We hoped that by choosing kindness, we could
eliminate some bullying that occurs. If students become accustomed to being kind to one another
Below is a picture of Bugg Elementary where we will complete our social action plan:
McKenzie Weed
Payton Doherty
11/30/17
Action Plan
This social action plan is designed to be done throughout the whole school in each
individual classroom. In order to do this, the administration, meaning the principle, needs to be
fully aware of how this week will go. Each teacher can take as much time out of their day to
complete the activity, but they will need to spend time each day in order to complete The
Kindness Project with their students. We will be collaborating with the teachers and engaging
their students. Students that do the bullying themselves may resist this social change because
they do not see their actions as wrong. They simply will not want to participate in the activities.
It is important to keep these students involved instead of leaving them out of the activities for the
week--they need to hear this message the most. We hope that The Kindness Project changes the
words that are being said throughout Bugg Elementary School. We hope that the students learn
how to treat everyone else with kindness and why it is important, and that after this week they
can all get along with each other and stop using the phrase no we cant work together.
To start the week off on a positive note, we want the students to be fully aware about
what kindness really is and what it means. After reading the book What does it Mean to Be
Kind?, students will be given a note card. On this note card, students will be writing what it
means to be kind. These notecards will be glued to a larger poster to spell out the word KIND,
and then this poster will be hung for many people to see.
Day 2: Prove that kindness can have a chain reaction by reading Because Amelia
Smiled
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Payton Doherty
11/30/17
Now that the students know what kindness really is and how to show kindness, the
second day should be about how to spread kindness throughout the school. The book, Because
Amelia Smiled, will provide the students with background knowledge about how just one simple
smile can start a chain of kind deeds across the world. The activity to really set this knowledge
into action is creating a paper chain. This step is going to start in the classroom with the students
writing how people have been kind to them on a piece of paper, then connecting it to the person
beside them, but it is going to continue for the rest of the week. Every time a student sees another
student being kind, or is kind to another, they will write it on the paper and connect it to the
chain--this chain will hopefully be really long at the end of the week, and it can be connected to
On the third day of the kindness project we want children to understand that kindness can
be done so simply, in so many ways. Random Acts of Kindness are small gestures that take little
time to complete for people around you, like holding the door for the person behind you for
example. To help start this process, students will be finding rocks outside of the school (or the
teacher can bring in rocks if it is easier). On these rocks students will be writing little notes of
encouragement, or kind words that will brighten the persons day that finds the rock. The activity
for this day can also be modified to write the notes on paper if the teacher does not feel the rocks
are appropriate. It is important that students spread the notes all over the school, maybe even
In order to really instill kindness in the hearts of the students, it is important that they
know kindness can occur outside of the classroom, as well. Have the students brainstorm ways
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Payton Doherty
11/30/17
that they can show and spread kindness outside of the school, and if one of their ideas really
seem to speak to the class, you can complete that activity. If they cannot come up with a great
idea that everyone can agree on, have the students write letters to the troops who are fighting
over seas. The troops love to receive letters, and this encompasses kindness, random acts of
kindness, and kindness outside of the school. Let the kids be creative with their letters.
This step will bring the everything the students have been doing full circle back to the
classroom in a literal circle. Have the students sit in a circle with a blank piece of paper, and tell
them to write their name on the top. The students are going to pass their paper around to each of
their classmates, and each student is going to write something kind about the person whose name
is on the paper in front of them. This not only builds the students confidence in themselves while
reading what people wrote about them, but it gives the students practice in saying kind things to
each other. It is all around just a feel good activity in both directions. It proves to the students
that they can always find something that they like about their peers no matter how different they
There are many ways in which we will involve the community in this social action plan.
An activity that students will be completing on the 3rd day of this plan includes the students
painting rocks. At first this seems ineffective but student will paint these small rocks and then be
challenged to place them around Raleigh. The point of the rocks is just to make someone smile
when they find the rock. On the back of each rock will be instructions to take a picture, post on
the Bugg Elementary Rocks! Facebook page and then rehide the rock. This activity provides
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Payton Doherty
11/30/17
many benefits to the community. First of all, it will get people outside and active as they hunt
for these rocks. Secondly, it will put a smile on peoples faces when they find these rocks.
Community members will also be invited to paint their own rocks and hide them or keep ones
they have found. We believe that this will be an amazing chain and will draw the many
community members into this Kindness Campaign. Below is an example of a rock painting
Resources
The nice thing about The Kindness Project is that it does not require a lot of resources
that the teachers dont already have in their classrooms. They will need construction paper,
notecards, rocks and paint (if doing the rock activity), and printer paper to complete the activities
Outcomes
Through this 5 day social action plan on kindness we hope to promote happiness in the
classroom, school, community, and nation. We hope that students will realize the importance of
being kind to one another. More importantly, we hope that student will come to understand the
effects of not being kind to one another. Although this is only one plan at one school, we hope to
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Payton Doherty
11/30/17
decrease the number of students who report being bullied each year. Bringing kindness back to
Bugg Elementary will create a more effective and comforting learning environment for students
Begin Implementation
Implementation
We started implementing parts of this social action plan at Bugg Elementary school. The
first step we took was reading Because Amelia Smiled and What does it mean to be Kind? To
Mrs. Kearns first grade class. During this step we discussed with students how to two books
were related. Students were asked to think of examples of kind acts that happened in Because
Amelia Smiled. This engaging activity got students thinking about what kindness is and how they
can be kind to one another. We also had students create a poster of all the different ways they
could be kind to one another. This poster is displayed in their classroom currently.
Next Steps
The next step for our class would be to engage in ways that the students can be kind to
others outside of school, in the community and around the nation. We will do this by talking
about random acts of kindness and completing the rock painting activity listed as day three
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Payton Doherty
11/30/17
above. We will also show students how to be kind to people even when they are far away from
To continue to spread this throughout the school we would distribute this social action
plan to teachers at Bugg Elementary as well as volunteer to conduction the plan in needed. This
will help the spread of kindness throughout all of Bugg Elementary and the community.