Introduction
Harshman Middle School is a 7/8 building that serves about 500 students from all across the city of Indianapolis. At Harshman, because we are student-focused we value relationships, community, rigor, and drive. We work to create a school-wide community that is empathetic, respectful, accountable, and motivated. As a school we were thrilled to be invited to take the kindness challenge. We found that the materials provided aligned directly to the PBIS supports we always strive to put in place for staff, students, and families.
Our Kindness Ambassadors
At Harshman, all of our students participate in an advisory period. This time is geared towards building relationships and community and giving space for staff to utilize student voice to create school-wide programs and initiatives. This group of girls decided that they wanted to dedicate their advisory time to creating events that would bring the school together as a whole. Because of their excellent leadership and creativity they were asked to become the school's kindness ambassadors, advertise the kindness challenge, and develop and implement the kindness ritual.
Our Kindness Challenge Process
The entire school came through the kindness kookout with their team of teachers. Students visited and participated in the stations first, earning a sticker for each station that they successfully completed. When they were done they traveled to the food section where they shared a meal with their friends and team.
This ritual is something we hope to continue yearly in order to not only promote kindness and empathy, but also build relationships and community with our students through student led teaching and learning.
A big thank you to the kindness challenge for providing our school with free access to tools and materials that allowed us to teach kindness in a meaningful way.
Harshman Middle School is a 7/8 building that serves about 500 students from all across the city of Indianapolis. At Harshman, because we are student-focused we value relationships, community, rigor, and drive. We work to create a school-wide community that is empathetic, respectful, accountable, and motivated. As a school we were thrilled to be invited to take the kindness challenge. We found that the materials provided aligned directly to the PBIS supports we always strive to put in place for staff, students, and families.
Our Kindness Ambassadors
At Harshman, all of our students participate in an advisory period. This time is geared towards building relationships and community and giving space for staff to utilize student voice to create school-wide programs and initiatives. This group of girls decided that they wanted to dedicate their advisory time to creating events that would bring the school together as a whole. Because of their excellent leadership and creativity they were asked to become the school's kindness ambassadors, advertise the kindness challenge, and develop and implement the kindness ritual.
Our Kindness Challenge Process
- Step One: Advertise the kindness challenge to Harshman's staff and get staff members to sign up (38 staff members signed up).
- Step Two: Throughout the month of April, we encouraged and cheered on staff as they used kindness lessons during class and advisory time.
- Step Three: During the month of April, the kindness ambassadors and other students engaged in a 30 day social media kindness challenge. For 30 days they would only use social media to create kind and inspiring posts. Girls used the honor system to share their weekly reflections regarding how they were doing throughout the challenge.
- Step Four: Creating Harshman's Kindness Ritual: Our kindness ambassadors decided that they wanted to create an annual kindness kookout. Throughout the kookout they wanted to meet the following objectives:
- Create a school-wide event that would allow ALL students and staff to focus on building relationships and community through kindness
- Create nine kindness stations that focus on teaching students about kindness under the umbrella of the following themes: kindness to self, kindness to others, kindness to community, and kindness to environment
- Provide a space for students and staff to share a meal together
**All logistics, decisions, activities were developed, created, and facilitated by our kindness ambassadors in order to increase student voice and give more space to student led events created for students by students.
Station One: Hulaness
Focus: Kindness to Others
Students stood in a circle, holding hands, and worked together to pass a hula hoop around the circle without letting go of each other's hands.
Station Two: Leave Your Mark
Focus: Kindness to Community
Students took turns signing a graduation board as well a board explaining what kindness means to them. Student will then laminate the posters to hang on Harshman's walls so that future students can see how Harshman embodies kindness.
Station Three: Kindness Vocabulary
Focus: Overall Kindness
Student posted kindness vocabulary words on a white board. Two students at a time would hold fly swatters. The kindness ambassadors would read a definition and students would race to the board to swat the correct kindness term knocking their opponent out of the competition.
Station Four: Monni's Music
Focus: Overall Kindness
Student Ambassador Armonni created a station where students could create original music and lyrics centered around the theme of kindness.
Station Six: Kindness Counts Competition
Focus: Kindness to Others
Students created two teams of two. Using the alphabet students had to alternate coming up with words surrounding kindness. If a student chose a correct word they were allowed to take a chance to shoot a ball. Team goals were to work together to come up with kindness words and eliminate the cups on the other end of the table.
Station Seven: Kindness Battle
Focus: Kindness to Others and Self
Students worked together to design, create, and perform an original dance to a song of their choice. Kindness Ambassadors messaged that the purpose of this station was to focus on collaboration, but also self-care and kindness to self through fitness.
Station Eight: A Kind Ghee
Focus: Kindness to Environment
Kindness Ambassadors created a kindness tic tac toe board. Students were asked to either answer questions about what it means to be kind to the environment or give examples of how they would be kind to the environment.
The entire school came through the kindness kookout with their team of teachers. Students visited and participated in the stations first, earning a sticker for each station that they successfully completed. When they were done they traveled to the food section where they shared a meal with their friends and team.
This ritual is something we hope to continue yearly in order to not only promote kindness and empathy, but also build relationships and community with our students through student led teaching and learning.
A big thank you to the kindness challenge for providing our school with free access to tools and materials that allowed us to teach kindness in a meaningful way.
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