Kindness
Counts
Project Summary
Laura Stoffel
Fine Arts Teacher
EdPsy 490NET
CTER - UIUC
Kindness
Counts
Purpose
of Project:
For the past three years, I have been focusing on character development
in my classroom. I noticed during my first few months of teaching
that students displayed very little respect or kindness toward other students,
school materials, or the school itself. I decided that needed to
change, and I have spent time (along with my "teammate" - the physical
education teacher) trying to improve and build character within each student
in the school. I get to see every student in the school at least
twice every six school days (as does my teammate), so I was able to keep
the character development program very consistent throughout the years
(I also see the same students from the time they begin kindergarten until
they graduate from fifth grade...this has definitely helped!).
I have spent a great deal of time focusing on Random Acts of Kindness.
I first read parts of the book Random Acts of Kindness to my students
to demonstrate what an act of kindness actually was. We discussed
how acts of kindness can change a person's attitude and make a person want
to turn around and do an act of kindness for someone else. We also
discussed the fact that when a person does an act of kindness, the person
does not expect any reward other than the great feeling that comes with
helping another person.
I then asked the students to pay attention to the things they did for others
during the day and also to pay attention to things that were done for them.
Throughout the years, I have periodically stopped in the middle of class
and either asked someone for a random act of kindness he/she had done or
witnessed, or I asked the entire class to complete a Kindness worksheet.
A Kindness worksheet simply asks the student to describe the details of
a random act of kindness he/she has seen or done; the student must describe
who performed the act of kindness, where is was done, what the act of kindness
was, and how the student felt when it happened. Students began to
see that kindness was everywhere.
I decided to begin the Kindness Counts project to continue the focus on
random acts of kindness. I was eager to hear accounts of kindness
being performed throughout the country and the effects these acts of kindness
had on people. In my project, I asked participants to email me with
accounts of random acts of kindness. I also asked participants to
write a short story in which one character performs an act of kindness
for another character.
Participants:
I was willing to accept any participant. Due
to the short time period, I asked my piano students to help me with my
project by emailing me with their accounts of random acts of kindness.
I also asked for help from many of my classmates. By the end of the
project, I received many accounts of acts of kindness.
Time
Involved:
For the participants, there was actually very
little time involved. Their only requirement was to email me a story
and a random act of kindness they had seen or done. I then asked
my piano students to describe how they felt when they saw/did the act of
kindness. I also asked them if it changed how they viewed others...did
they try to do more acts of kindness?
Activities:
As described above, I asked participants to email
me with descriptions of random acts of kindness. I also asked the
participants to write a short story in which one character performs an
act of kindness for another character.
Once I received their stories and descriptions, I emailed the students
and asked them to describe their feelings before, during, and after the
act of kindness happened. I wanted to know if their attitudes changed
because of the act of kindness. Were they happier? Did they
turn around and perform another act of kindness? Was the feeling
they got from helping another person enough, or did they feel that they
needed a tangible reward? Nearly all of my students said that they
felt better after the act of kindness happened, and that they tried harder
to help others by performing more acts of kindness.
What
I Learned:
Kindness Counts is the first network project I have
run, so (of course) I learned a great deal during this project. I
learned that I needed more time in order to involve more participants.
I also learned that the next time I run this project, I would like to focus
more on the changes in attitudes (if there were any) felt by my participants
after the act of kindness happened. I also found that not only were
the participants in my project focusing on acts of kindness, but I was,
too. My attitude toward others changed. I found myself helping
others more often and being more grateful to those who took the time to
help me.
Network projects are great ways to involve people from all over the world
in a common goal. I would like to try another project - Art around
the World. I am still developing the idea, but it would ultimately
link artwork from children all around the world. I have not yet decided
on a subject for the artwork.
What
I Would Do Differently:
I would definitely like to run this project again.
I would like to involve more students from around the world and compare
the acts of kindness being done in different parts of the country and world.
Are they the same? Do the acts of kindness being done in other countries
differ from those being done here?
I would also like to give participants more time to complete the project.
I would be curious to see if I received multiple accounts from the same
person, which would mean that that person is constantly looking for acts
of kindness being done.
Most importantly, when I run this project again, I will spend more time
focusing on the effect acts of kindness have on people. Once an act
of kindness has been done for a person, does that person feel like performing
an act of kindness of their own? Can doing acts of kindness change
the attitude of a person? Is the great feeling that comes with helping
someone enough of a reward? I would spend more time delving into
these questions, and I would find a way to incorporate the answers to these
questions into the project website.
If I had older students that were participating in the project, I would
like to ask them to read Pay It Forward. This book deals with
a boy who began with three acts of kindness. These acts of kindness
turned into 9, then 27, then went on and on until an infinite number of
people were involved. It is a wonderful book, and I would like to
see the profound impact it has on those who read it and what those people
are inspired to do after reading the book. I would also like to find
a book for younger participants to read that will inspire them to perform
more acts of kindness.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please email me!
Click here to go to the Project Proposal.
Click here to go to the Kindness Counts page.