Students Reward Students

One of the important initiatives that came from the group was the creation of the "Kindness Wall". Again, we ensured that this task was completely student run, and only offered as guidance or help. The students created papers that revealed something positive that someone else had done for them that week. After writing out the acts of kindness they had noticed in their community, we created a link out of the papers and used it to decorate the "Kindness Wall".

The Kindness Wall was created as an idea that students could reward students, and that it was not only up to teachers to do so. We printed out wood logs (as the school mascot is a beaver we saw it to be very fitting) and left a space for students to write the name of another student, and an act of kindness that they had witnessed the student do. This ranged from students helping others in class or on our skating trip, to cleaning up for teachers, to sharing treats or snacks.

We left extra logs at the front of the class for the students to re-fill when needed. Ultimately, the success of the wall lay entirely in the hands of the students in the Kindness club. The picture above is after only two weeks of it's creation, and it grew by the end of our practicum. It was situated near the front hall of the school, so students could see the shout outs on their way to class in the morning.