I'm always looking for ways to teach my students to give. To be selfless and put others first. To always look for the positive in someone. Well, this book has touched my heart for years. Now that I have been using Empowering Writers in my classroom, I am able to teach the tools and skills that EW uses with all of my favorite literature. Here is a great lesson using the detail generating questions "What Does it Look Like?" and "Why is it Important?"
I had my students choose someone that they think
makes a difference in their life. Someone that might not always get recognized for all they do. We then created this chart to answer those DGQ's. Students then wrote a quick note to this person using the sentence that they created with the information from their chart.
On the next day, I had students think of someone at our school- a teacher, custodian, bus driver, cafeteria worker, or coach and we repeated the skill.
Students then created a special note to give randomly to the people of their choice. I repeated this throughout the week as my bell work. It is amazing at how quick my students got at creating the charts and writing the notes. To save time on the bell work days, I picked up little notepads, had pre-cut out hearts, or index cards that they could write their messages on. (NOW is the time to grab some of this on Valentine clearance!) By the end of the week, my 125 students had spread 625 random acts of kindness to those around our school and community! So take the opportunity during this last week in February, to spread the love my teacher friends, and be sure to post your samples on my FB page for others to see!
We even partnered up with some of the classes at the elementary to spread a little more! Look at these 2nd graders' letters. They just melt my heart!
Kylene
kreed@empoweringwriters.com
