Kindness has no on/off switch

I have been asked several times in the past few weeks, mostly on Twitter, "How do you get your students to be kind to each other?"

I think this is a question bigger than the...How do I get them...

Kindness, like most anything, is a mindset.  It comes from the culture that we exist within.  If we exist in a culture of violence or selfishness, the results are going to be pretty obvious.  We will see students that our violent or self-centered. It is the culture that teaches the students while setting the expectations of actions and thoughts.

To create a culture of kindness, it doesn't start with a teacher or school telling students to be kind.  This never works.  It especially never works when the teacher or school engage in a "Do as I say, not as I do" mentality.

We have to live kindness and gratitude to create the culture that will eventually lead to the mindsets and habits of kindness.  It must be genuine.  It must be authentic.  It must exist within every corner of the school and honestly in the hearts of all of the staff at that school...not just the teachers.

Kindness is not something that we expect to be temporary.  It must be anchored in the foundations of who we are as people.  Kindness does not have an on/off switch.

To speak to the original question...How do I get my students to be kind to each other?  It all starts when I am kind to them.  And I am kind to others.  And I am kind to all of the staff.  And I am kind when I am not at school.  It is real.  It is organic.

Be mindful.

Peace.

Mark Levine

#Mindfulliteracy
@LevineWrites