Looking for tips on teaching kindness in your classroom? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
How Do You Teach Kindness?
Explicit kindness instruction is an important part of creating a warm and supportive classroom environment. So how do you do that? Here are some tips from our teacher team.- Model kindness yourself as a teacher.
- Provide students with opportunities to practice kindness, whether it's through group activities in the classroom or service projects at school or at home.
- Encourage and reward acts of kindness as you notice them in your classroom to reinforce the behavior.
- Practice mindfulness in the classroom to help your students be more aware of their emotions and actions and to respond with kindness in difficult situations.
- Build an inclusive classroom environment and teach about different cultures and cultural differences. Understanding the diversity around them helps our students to be more kind and respectful to others.
- Incorporate empathy and compassion into the curriculum: Make a point to discuss feelings, teach active listening skills, and encourage perspective-taking as part of the skillsets you are helping students to build.
- Approach classroom events through a kindness lens, whether it be ensuring Valentine's Day celebrations focus on expressing kindness to classmates or using Thanksgiving as a chance for students to do something kind for others.
