Lesson 4: Acts of Caring Challenge 2
15-20 minutes
Introduce the lesson & reflection (5-8 minutes)
Introduce today’s lesson by telling students the following: “Today we are going to reflect on last week’s classroom community acts of kindness and caring.”
Engage in a whole-class discussion using the following questions:
How did it feel to do acts of caring for your classmates? How did it feel to ask for and receive the act of kindness?
Did you notice any differences between performing caring acts for people you know well versus performing caring acts for people you don’t know as well?
How can you carry out more caring acts for people you don’t know as well? How can you do acts of caring that other people will value? (Encourage students to use empathy as well as checking in with others with good questions and listening skills to learn about how people like to receive kindness.)
Did you notice each other doing kind acts? What about people outside of class? What did seeing others make you think or feel?
MCC Tip: Prepare and present the question prompts above and the following directions for the kindness challenge on a PowerPoint presentation to accommodate all learners and keep the discussion on track.
Acts of caring challenge & scavenger hunt (8-10 minutes)
For the next acts of caring challenge, ask students to commit to three to five new acts of kindness and caring that:
Can happen anywhere – not just at school
Are intentional, thoughtful, and use empathy skills
Involve people they might not know well or who might not receive kindness often
MCC Tip: Research shows that it’s not necessarily just the frequency of kind acts that is important to increasing student wellbeing. Students’ motivation and effort also matters. Simply doing caring acts without intentionality or variation can be ineffective.
Again, see Appendix 3 for potential acts of everyday caring. Encourage students to be creative, thoughtful, and intentional as they decide on their new acts of kindness and caring. New acts could include the following: elements of surprise, personalization, or a creation. The list goes on! Give students time to write their ideas in their journals or on the chart in Appendix 2.
Tell students that along with using empathy to do three to five additional acts of caring, they will also complete an “Acts of Caring Scavenger Hunt.” To complete the Scavenger Hunt, they must look out for caring acts performed by others either for them or someone else. Tell students to record the acts they observe in their journals or on the sheet in Appendix 5 and be ready to discuss them in the next lesson.
After sharing the assignments, use the remaining time for students to brainstorm for their challenge. Consider having students brainstorm with their accountability partners, or a new peer in class.
Wrap up (1 minute)
Close the lesson by telling students when you think the next lesson will take place and that you are looking forward to hearing about their new, creative acts of caring that will push them. Encourage students to keep an eye out for acts of kindness and caring taking place around them.
MCC Tip: Throughout the debrief process be aware of students who may not have had a positive or successful experience with one or several of the lessons. You could acknowledge that caring takes practice, or that at first it may feel awkward or artificial to be so focused on kindness. Remind students that just by taking the time to think about others they’re taking a huge first step. If a student’s actions aren’t being reciprocated or received positively, try to make time for that student after class and be sure to support them as much as possible.
Content developed by Making Caring Common, a project of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
