Last night, we co-hosted a wonderful twitter chat with Dr. Neil Gupta, an Ohio-based education leader and member of our advisory board. The chat focused around a handful of questions about how kindness is currently being practiced in schools. Here’s a rundown of some of our favorite responses:
Why is overtly teaching concepts like kindness important to students, especially today?
A1-Kindness is a SKILL and we have to build it-therefore we need to intentionally teach for kindness and have kids practice it #ohedchat
— jacki prati (@Jacki_prati) August 17, 2017
A1: Kindness transcends everything in our lives…students need to know that kindness is a choice. #ohedchat
— Emily Shreve (@Shreve3309) August 17, 2017
What are strategies you implement to help kids develop complex SEL skills like demonstrating empathy?
A2: tying in social skills, cooperative & problem based learning, modeling respect, compassion & empathy #ohedchat
— Sarah Nelson (@sarahmomof3boys) August 17, 2017
A2: love using literature and informational text, make connections to characters, settings, conflicts. #ohedchat pic.twitter.com/qaeqvT97jG
— Teresa Gross ?? (@teresagross625) August 17, 2017
How do you ensure an inclusive environment for all students?
A3 Let them know the classroom is theirs as much as anyone’s; invite input on topics and procedures #ohedchat
— Justin Gartin (@MrGartin) August 17, 2017
A3:Create learning tasks, routines, norms & experiences that respect, address & challenge all styles, levels, backgrounds & dreams #ohedchat
— Lori Vandeborne (@MsVandeborne) August 17, 2017
What types of curriculum, resources, or community partnerships does your school use to help promote kindness?
Kicking off our 17–18 kindness initiative by intentionally ‘catching kids doing good’ and celebrating kindness in and out of class #ohedchat
— Joe Sloan (@mrsloanteaches) August 17, 2017
A5. The best programs effectively weave efforts to foster kindness into a school’s daily routines & culture. #OHedchat #fosterkindness https://t.co/gax5vcmMNt
— Jonah Edelman (@JonahEdelman) August 17, 2017
Why are codes of conduct school rules insufficient to promote kind behaviors among students?
A6: Becuz kindness cannot be legislated. It must be demonstrated, practiced and earned. Ts & adults must lead the way. #ohedchat
— Jarrod Weiss (@GreatWeissOne) August 17, 2017
A6: They tend to focus on reactive consequences…instead of how to develop habits of acting with kindness proactively #ohedchat
— Christine Ferrell (@GoEduoso) August 17, 2017