Acts of Kindness (Slice 16 of 31)

This post is a part of the Slice of Life challenge which is hosted on the Two Writing Teachers blog.  The month of March the challenge is to write a blog post a day.


Yesterday, we went roller skating.  As part of our PBIS program at school, we have incentives that students can earn.  This field trip was one that they could go on if they had earned a certain number of stamps on their stamp card for being responsible, respectful, and safe at school.

We loaded the three buses and headed off to the roller skating rink.  The students had two hours of time to skate, play laser tag, eat junk food, and basically enjoy time with their friends.  This is always a fun time for everyone including the teachers. They all beg us to get in a pair of skates and get out there with them.  I did this two years ago and left the roller rink with a broken tail bone.  Now, I keep both feet firmly on the ground but enjoy watching them skate.

In the midst of all the action after arriving at the rink, one student stayed in the same spot for twenty minutes.  She is a sixth grader and cognitively disabled.  As teachers, we had noticed that she was sitting there but didn't think anything of it because it seemed that she was choosing to just sit and relax.  Then Kayla went by.  Kayla is an eighth grade student.  She noticed that this other student was not moving because she needed help with the laces on her skates.  Kayla got down on the floor and started lacing the other student's skates.  Once she had the skates tied, Kayla helped this sixth grader get to the skating floor and she skated with her for a little while because the sixth grader had expressed that she was scared to skate.  Kayla did not have any reason to help this girl but the goodness of her own heart.  She gave up some of her time with friends in order to help this other student to have a good time.  When I see things like this, I am not so nervous about our future in the hands of these kids.

We spend so much time in our society focusing on the negative.  While there are plenty of stories about bullies and teens who are mean to each other, there are also these positive acts of kindness happening daily.  I know I will work to notice it more often and to acknowledge it when it happens.