BSEL Library: Will You Be the I in Kind?

In my classroom, we had a motto: 
Be safe, Be kind, Be your best self.

But kindness can be difficult skill to teach. How do you just "be kind?" Is it an attitude, or a personality trait? I would argue that kindness is a skill, with behaviors that can be explicitly taught to students! And thankfully, I found a book that gives specific ways to teach kindness in your classroom.
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On your journey to teach students to be kind, "Will You Be the I in Kind?" written by Julia Cook and illustrated by Jomike Tejido is a phenomenal resource. Here's why and how to use it.

There are so many great things about this book, so I'm going to just dive right in with what I love.
 - This book is full of valuable examples of how to be kind in every day life. These examples are specific enough to be those observable, measurable behaviors we know and love but general enough to be applied to a variety of situations.
- It can be used with a variety of ages. While it's definitely leaning towards a younger, more elementary crowd, it's not too "baby-ish" for reading to older kids too. 
- There are great tips included for "Ways to Nurture Kindness in Children." I always love when BSEL books have guidelines for the adults reading and working with children, and this book is no different. These skills are tough for us adults (maybe because we were never taught?), and the list of ideas will help you put kindness into practice in your home or school.

There are still a couple things to be aware of when you're using this book.
- The story is short. It's not a book you'll be able to pull from for a few days, most likely. You can stretch it more with younger students but with older students, it's almost more of a time-filler.
- It's relatively straight forward, meaning it doesn't allow for much extension on it's own. If you want to dive more into kindness, I suggest using this resource in tandem with other books or activities. The final page does give practical ways to expand on and continue learning beyond the book.

Here are some easy ways to use it in your classroom!
Introduce your classroom rules at the beginning of the school year, or review your rules throughout the school year.  This book is the perfect way to introduce kindness in a simple fashion, so if you're like me and have kindness woven into your classroom culture through expectations, rules, class motto or mission statement, use "Will you be the I in Kind?" to bring the idea to life.
Create an anchor chart on kindness during your dedicated SEL time or morning meeting. Whenever you provide any BSEL instruction, use this book to either begin a unit on kindness or fill in a day between units. I would definitely create an anchor chart and have students use letter I's or body-shaped cutouts to compile a list of kind acts they can do at home, school, or in the community! Hang the anchor chart somewhere in the classroom.
Incorporate kindness into a students behavior plan and related instruction. You could read this book one-on-one or in a small group, creating a list of kind actions as you go. This provides social skills instruction, and can also formulate a list of behaviors you as the adult will reinforce for the child! 

No matter how you use this book, I think we can all agree that the world could use a little more kindness. That starts with us as adults and how we teach the children in our lives. So I ask you: "Will You Be the I in Kind?"

We already know books provide opportunities to teach just about any skill, and that includes behavioral, social, and emotional skills, too! Through character, conflict, and more, BSEL skills can be found on nearly every page. A library of BSEL books gives you endless options to incorporate academics as well. Grab some BSEL books and get teaching!