Tag Archives: kindness
Dear Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for the food you leave on my desk every morning. Your quiet, unassuming generosity is so precious to me.
Are you sure you’re getting enough to eat for breakfast? I don’t want to take the cereal, yogurt or banana from your school breakfast if you aren’t eating at home!
And as much as I appreciate the food, I love the thought behind it even more. You brighten my mornings!
All my love,
-Ms. Jackson
Dear LaKeysha
Dear LaKeysha,
I get it; I really do. You have a dozen choices to make every morning before you walk into my classroom. You choose your shoes, belt, earrings, and whether to start the day with a smile or a grimace.
The most important decision you can make today and every day is the choice to be kind.
I know enough about what goes on at home to know that choosing kind is not always demonstrated for you. Choose it anyway. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if your earrings match your belt. What matters is how you treat people.
Popularity in middle school is a delicate pond on which you are skating. Being mean and pretty might scare people into thinking you’re popular for awhile, but I guarantee you that ice will melt soon enough. Try being the kind, pretty version of yourself.
Mean is a choice too. It’s not a default. Since the way you treat people is a decision, choose to be kind.
All my love,
-Ms. Jackson
From Mateo
Dear Ethan and Christian
Dear Ethan and Christian,
I have a new vocabulary word for you:
Empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of another
Today you two showed empathy when you noticed that I was stressed and frustrated at lunch. While nearly every other 6th grade student continued being rowdy and silly when I asked them to enter the cafeteria silently, you two thought about what it must feel like to be me, and you invited me to eat lunch at your table.
Ethan, I’ll never forget your quip:
“Well, about all we can do is pray!”
Amen to that.
And Christian, thank you for offering me a French fry while taking my mind off the craziness of the cafeteria by yammering about the latest movies you’ve seen.
You two are the coolest. Thanks for reminding me of what kindness looks like.
All my love,
-Ms. Jackson
From Isabella
From Raquel
Dear Rodrigo
Dear Rodrigo,
I have to admit, you were driving me crazy in class today.
Clink, clink, clink.
At first, I couldn’t figure out where the noise was coming from.
Clink, clink.
A glimmer of light reflected off something grasped tightly in your hands. Frustrated, I walked over to see that you were playing with a stack of nickels, dimes and quarters.
“Rodrigo, put the money away, or it’s going to be mine.”
“Eleven dollars, Miss!” You whispered excitedly as the coins clinked and clanked into a plastic bag. “How much longer until the book fair?”
Thirty-three minutes later, I watched as you and your classmates scoured the shelves of shiny books, dug through the junky pencils and erasers that look like iPhones, and plowed through piles of pens that light up and make noise.
“15 minutes left” I announced to the class.
You pulled a book off the shelf and leafed through it gingerly. Checking the price, I noticed you shake your head and put it back. You did this three more times before spotting the discount table. Snatching a book, you eyed it eagerly, and with five minutes left at the fair, marched proudly to the check out.
Clink, clink, clink. You counted out each nickel, quarter and dime with care and pride, beaming when you heard the total price.
“I still have six dollars and forty-one cents!” You cried and raced back to the poster section of the store.
You were the last student at the fair.
“Rodrigo, we really need to go,” I stressed.
“Aha!” you exclaimed, pulling a burnt-orange University of Texas poster from the pile. “Ms. Jackson, LOOK! Don’t you love it?”
I smiled, “Yes! It’s awesome. Now let’s hurry! We gotta get you back to class.”
“Wow, Miss, I even have 27 cents left over!” Without hesitation, you plunked the change in the donation box, becoming the only student in the entire school to donate so far.
We walked into the hallway.
“Here you go!” Beaming, you handed me the poster.
“Do you want me to hold this until we get back to class?” I asked, confused.
“No, Miss, I bought it for you!” You almost skipped with excitement.
“Oh, Rodrigo, that is so thoughtful, but you should really keep it! Your parents will probably wonder what you bought today. Didn’t they give you the money to spend at the book fair?”
“No, Miss, I earned it.”
“What do you mean? Is this your allowance?”
“Not my allowance. I help my uncle with his roofing business. He usually doesn’t have any cash, so he pays me in coins.”
This gift is so meaningful to me. Thank you for spending your hard-earned money on a poster for my classroom. I admire your generosity and am honored to be the teacher of such a hard working and considerate young man.
All my love (and Hook ’em, Horns!),
-Ms. Jackson
Rivers & Roads 