Kindness Matters in the Classroom and Beyond

A little kindness and empathy can go a long way. Demonstrating kindness and empathy can completely change a person’s day, open new doors and opportunities, and mend hurting relationships. And while I firmly believe that teaching kindness and empathy should start in the home, as educators, we need to emphasize these qualities in our classrooms every single day. There is a link to a free resource to use in your classroom toward the bottom of this post!

I start every class period with a bell ringer. Bell ringers provide students with the perfect routine that helps them transition from the craziness that happens in the halls during passion period, to the more structured setting of a classroom. Some of my favorite bell ringers to use with my students are sentence combining bell ringers, growth mindset bell ringers, and bell ringers that force students to use their critical thinking skills. I have my students track their bell ringers on this free tracking sheet, and I stamp it every single class period after I take attendance.

To provide my students with opportunities to grow as intellectuals and think about love, acceptance, tolerance, diversity, and kindness, I created this set of 40 bell ringers: Bell Ringers to Establish Community. Each bell ringer includes a thought-provoking quote from someone who has made a positive impact on the world and a quick writing prompt that encourages critical thinking.

I typically give my students the first five minutes of class to respond and share their response to each bell ringer. During these five minutes I am able to take attendance, answer student questions, talk with students who were recently absent, stamp all of my students’ bell ringers, and have two or three students share their responses aloud. I look forward to hearing my students respond to these prompts.

To help you decide if these bell ringers are right for you class, I’ve posted a FREE SAMPLER. The free sampler includes 5 different bell ringers that are sure to inspire your students.

To help show that kindness matters, I’ve teamed up with some amazing educators and resource authors to provide teachers with free resources to teach kindness in the classroom. This #WeHoldTheseTruths and a #KindnessMatters blog hop is hosted by the Secondary Smorgasbord: The ELA Buffet and Desktop Learning Adventures.

An InLinkz Link-up