Cultivating Kindness

I read a news article recently about a boy in New Mexico who was repeatedly asking his mom to pack two lunches for school each day.  His mom figured he was just a very hungry growing boy, so continued to meet his request.  Eventually, out of concern, she asked him if he was just not getting full.  The boy explained that he noticed a little boy in school was only eating a fruit cup each day and believed he could not afford lunch.  He continued to ask if we (him and his mom) could continue to feed him.  After some time the mom of the little boy found out and reached out to the other mom through the school principal.  She wanted to pass a long some money mentioning that it wasn't much but she just got a job and wanted to pay her back for the kindness she showed her son.  She could not accept the money from this grateful mom.  The Volleyball team that the helpful mom coaches also raised $400 to help pay for the lunches, and the mom would not accept that money either.  Instead she decided to "pay it forward" and brought the money straight to the cafeteria of the school and paid up all of the past due balances of all the children so that no child would go hungry.  This type of kindness that the boy and his mother bestowed upon the little boy and his mother is not something you see or hear about often but it makes you want to do another act of kindness when you do.  The power of cultivating kindness is simply the act of being kind.

My school district recently had an assembly at all four elementary schools that was about this idea of cultivating kindness.  Many districts have brought this assembly to their schools and you haven't, I highly recommend that you do.  Mr. Richard Specht comes to schools with his storybook that he wrote, called A Little Rees Specht Cultivates Kindness, and his story of proof that kindness can be cultivated and grow like a plant.  A detail of his story is quite sad but he does an excellent job at telling his story and not upsetting the children with that detail.  He does a great job at showing how he was able to turn a tragic moment in his life into a teachable moment.  Everyone sitting in that room, children and adults alike, were positively affected in a way where they too wanted to participate in acts of kindness.  I am not going to tell his entire story however I will write about some of it to help explain the idea of cultivating kindness.  As Hurricane Sandy was quickly approaching, Mr. Specht was given the task of securing the backyard furniture as well as watch his two year old son while his wife was on errands with their daughters.  A friend came over to help watch the two year old as Mr. Specht frantically tackled the furniture.  When Mr. Specht came back inside he saw his friend sitting on the couch watching TV.  He asked what his son was doing and his friend thought the boy was with Mr. Specht outside.  An accident took place which resulted in the loss of his son at the same time as Hurricane Sandy knocked out all the power and destroyed everything in its path.  One day, after the hurricane was over, there was a knock at the door and it was a landscaping company.  Mr. and Mrs. Specht going through what they were going through just looked at him.  The man said that he thought he could help them.  The Spechts simply said they didn't need landscaping and the man asked them if they have seen their yard.  The Spechts said everyone was going through that.  The man told them not everyone went through, what they went through.  The landscaping company decided to work tirelessly all week making their landscaping look better than it ever had before (for free).  The Spechts were so grateful they tried tipping the men.  The men refused to take the money.  The Spechts went to their lunch spot and tried to pay for their lunches and the restaurant owner wouldn't take the Specht's money and instead bought the men in the landscaping company their lunch instead.  The Spechts wanted to return the kindness that the landscaping company, the restaurant, and friends and family members have shown them the past few weeks.  They decided to have 500 cards made that tell a little about their story and pledged that they would do 500 random acts of kindness.  

The first act of kindness is what led him on the path of cultivating kindness.  He was in the car with one of his daughters and drove to Dunkin donuts for breakfast.  While at the pick up window in the drive through, he paid for his order but did not drive away.  Instead, he gave the woman at the window one of his cards and told her he would like to pay for the breakfast that the car behind him ordered.  She took the card and his money and Mr. Specht and his daughter drove away.  Later that night he received an email from that woman at the window (his email address was on the card).  She said the most amazing thing happened when he drove away.  The car pulled up and the woman told him that his breakfast was paid for and showed him the card.  That man decided to pay for the order for the car behind him and left the card at the window.  The next car did the same and the car behind that.  This continued until there were no more cars pulling up to the window, 3 hours later.  One random act of kindness caused others to do acts of kindness.  Mr. Specht now has a website and cards made up that are past around all over the world.  People share with him the random acts of kindness they do.

After experiencing this man's story and sitting through one of the best assemblies I have experienced, I ask myself... how can I continue this idea of cultivating kindness in my school?  As educators of children, we ensure that they grow to be productive members of society.  We ensure that they have the education necessary to succeed in life in the work place as well as in the community.  The children that walk the halls of our schools are our future.  What better way to change the world than by cultivating that desire to spread kindness not only to friends but to people they may never have met.  

Brain Breaks

I don't know about you, but after working really hard on a project or spending time learning at a conference, I need time to unwind and rest my brain. I need time to be quiet or listen to music, and just take minute to unwind.  Children need to do the same, especially with the demands of the rigorous learning they experience in each of their core subject areas.  They need a "Brain Break"! This can look different depending on either the make-up of the class, the time of day, or the activity that they were participating in that required a brain break.

Brain breaks can last anywhere from 1 minute to 10 minutes.  A popular Web 2.0 tool can be used to guide a classroom brain break.  It is called Go Noodle.  I used it with my faculty at a faculty meeting in order to introduce it.  Since that meeting, it would be safe to say that 75% of my teachers use it with their students and both teachers and students LOVE IT!

The class gets assigned a character.  After a certain amount of brain breaks the character grows and the students get excited to see how big their character gets.  Go Noodle has different types of activities that the teacher can choose for the class, depending on the need of the class.  If the class needs to get out of their seats and move around and be very active because they have been sitting in their seats for a while racking their brains to solve math problems, a Zumba or Hip Hop dance activity may be just what they need.  The Go Noodle selection has activities that are as short as 1 minute long and as much as 10 minutes long so teachers can choose an activity that meets their timing needs.  They can also choose a longer one but stop it when they need to; the class will still get credit for their brain break activity so that their character continues to grow.  Once they select the activity there are people that come on the screen and lead the class in a routine going along with the music.

If the students need a brain break to calm them down, Go Noodle has some mindfulness activities including yoga or breathing exercises.  The act of being present and mindful is becoming more and more popular however many people are not quite sure how to lead an activity for their students.  The breathing activity on Go Noodle can help with that. There are many options but one of the options I like is called "Take on the Day" which walks you through blinking and breathing and being present and is only 1 minute long.

Other breathing activities are great but longer so you may want to stop it after a minute or two because the students may start to get restless taking deep breaths in and out for longer than that.


Over the summer I went to a conference led by Dr. Bill Brennan and Cory Muscara called Brennan Learning.  Dr. Brennan discussed many topics that he is known for around innovation.  Theory U was discussed to help bring about change in school districts and other organizations.  Mr. Muscara's specialty is meditation and the act of being present, which pairs well with Theory U since being present is part of the Theory U process but in a different way.  Mr. Muscara led us in a few mindfulness activities that can be done in schools without the use of technology.  One of the activities stuck with me, especially because it doesn't take long at all and is a perfect way to take a brain break and be in the moment.  During a silent moment, where no one talks (soft music can play in the background but doesn't have to), everyone in the room closes their eyes and traces one of their hands with the other hand.  Each person uses his/her pointer finger to trace up and down his/her thumb, then move to the pointer finger and trace up and down, then the middle finger, the ring finger, and pinky. Then he/she does the same thing the opposite way back to the thumb.  The quiet soft sounds, the sensation of the finger tracing the hand, and the thoughts of your breathing make this an easy way to take a brain break and be mindful.

It doesn't matter how you take your brain break or how you lead your faculty or students in a brain break.  What matters is that you take the time to have one.

Apps for Education

This is my first attempt to begin blogging and I am really excited to give it a try.  There are so many Apps to use in education, so I am going to choose a few that I think are either helpful to parents and teachers or engaging for students.

1. Lit Leveler is a great app for teachers and parents who are looking for the book level of high interest books.  I really believe that the love of reading does not come from a level and it is OK for a children to choose books that are below their reading level or challenge themselves with a book above their reading level.  However, at times, it is helpful for them to choose books on their level so this app is helpful for a quick determination of the level of the chosen book.  Teachers can also find that the Lit Leveler app can save them time leveling their classroom libraries.  The app allows you to scan the bar code of the book and immediately the Lexile score, the DRA score, and the GRL reading level pops up!  If the book does not have a bar code, you can type in the title as well.  Gone are the days of going to a website and having to type in the book's information to retrieve the reading level.  It is important to note that this app has a small fee of $3.99.

2. Remind is a great app for communication purposes.  I use it with my faculty and I am able to have two way communication with them directly to their phones without having to have their cell phone numbers and they don't have mine.  My teachers love using the app to communicate with their students' parents.  Some of them turn off the two way capabilities and use the app to send out a message to the class as a whole or to a small group.  They can also send individual messages to the parents.  The messages all arrive to the phones as a text message, which are always checked right away unlike mass emails or take-home folders.

3. QR Reader and QR Code Generator are great apps for engaging students.  I had a great time with my faculty at a faculty meeting by sending them on a QR code Scavenger Hunt.  They split into teams and searched around the library for QR codes. Using their QR Reader app on their phones they scanned the codes which led them to trivia questions.  The first group to answer all questions correctly won!  This led teachers to create QR codes for a classroom review.  One class was seen working together to scan QR codes around the room that were next to specific pictures of geometry terms.  Each code led them to the next term for review.  The students were excited while reviewing their geometry unit.  Another teacher added a QR code to her homework that led students to videos on the topic, they were studying, for extra support.  There are so many engaging ideas that can used with QR Codes!

4. Voxer is another communication app that can be used in many different ways!  It is an app that turns your phone or device into a walkie-talkie.  Recently, I joined a few Voxer groups one of which led me here, to my first blogging experience.  I joined a Blogging Challenge group that discusses blog posts we each create beginning with each letter of the alphabet and having to do with education.  I also joined a few leadership groups allowing me to broaden my professional learning networks, giving me more support and idea exchanges.  Voxer can also be used for book talks in a book club.  Students and/or adults can choose a book and Vox about each section read.  I know a teacher who also uses it during her reading conferences.  The student Voxes himself reading and the parent can here it and offer positive feedback right then and there, but also the student listens to his Vox submissions and hears his own fluency progress.

There are so many wonderful apps out there for education and I am sure that some of my future posts will include some other ones.  For now, enjoy the four Apps for Education that were written about today!