There was a group of us (teachers) who were traveling to Kansas City to go participate in a day of learning with Character Strong. The group was so excited to soak up the social/emotional learning and bring it all back to Independence to implement. We already felt like we could change the world! Unfortunately, we could not change the weather. Upon arriving in KC, an ice and snow storm also arrived with us. We went to bed hoping that the event would not be canceled and we woke up to the disappointment of the reality that is was canceled.
Extremely bummed, a couple of us went to breakfast in the hotel lobby. Lo and behold there was a member of the character strong team also eating breakfast. After striking a conversation with him, we found out that the entire Character Strong team was also in our hotel and would be coming to join us at breakfast.
We spent two hours talking with the team about our passion for giving students social/emotional support and our grand plan of getting Francis Howell to make social/emotional learning a priority in the curriculum. In talking, we asked the question “What have other teachers in our position done to convince their districts to adopt this kind learning?” The response was that we needed to begin collecting evidence of how the work we are doing with social emotional learning is making a positive impact in our school and seeping into the homes of our students. We need students and parents to tell the district that we need this.
So we left KC with some work to do. We needed to start collecting evidence and telling our story. Sometimes when roadblocks like this happen, it leaves you with a feeling that maybe it wasn’t meant to be. Something is trying to tell you that you shouldn’t go any farther. We all had a these doubts in the back of our minds as we were traveling back. Even with these doubts, the entire drive home, we came up with a plan for how we will collect evidence. The passion was still there.
The next morning I walked into my classroom to get ready for the day. Ms. Spomer came into my class and was really excited to tell me something. She began to share a story of a boy who had taken some of our social/emotional instruction to hear. This boy was so excited to share his personal growth with me that he couldn’t wait to tell me when I got back to school. He wrote a letter and told Ms. Spomer to give it to me the next day. The letter said this:
One time, I was very bored so I went on to my iPad and watched my favorite YouTube channel ted ed. The first thing I Saw was a video that Said… if you won the lottery would you be happy. I thought, of course you could buy a whole bunch of stuff. They said that a scientist tested 10 people and gave them 1000 dollars. Half of them gave it to charity and the other half used it on themselves. The people who used it on other people were way happier than the other people that used it on themselves. The next day I was at VS (Vacation Station) and we were making chocolate chip cookies. Everybody got one but a couple of people got two. I knew how much my sister loves cookies so I opted to give the second cookie to her and she loved it. So I challenge you to do something kind or selfless for someone. Doing this can even be smiling at someone or taking someone off the buddy bench.
After finishing the letter I was almost in tears. Here was a boy that I really did not know well. He took a lesson on Kindness and applied it, in a very 4th grade fashion, to his life. You could feel the passion and excitement in his letter. You could tell it was the kind of excitement that was contagious. You could tell the impact of the lessons we were doing with the kids because he was using the same vocabulary we use with them. He even challenged people to take action because he knows that words without actions are just good ideas.
I met with the boy later that morning and told him how proud I was. I asked if he would be interested in letting us film his story. (You can watch for yourself)
So sometimes I feel like when we are doing this work with the students and challenging them to be the difference in the world. We are asking them to take on some BIG adult topics that grown ups don’t even practice. It seems like a difficult task but difficult does not mean we shouldn’t do something, it actually means the opposite. I don’t think it was a coincidence that I found out about this the first thing after we got back from our snowed out conference. I think it was the perfect affirmation of the work we are doing and the changes we are seeing. We are participants in something much bigger than ourselves.