It has been a couple of weeks now since I began embarking on my road to kindness. It is not easy to do at times, and there is work involved, but it is a labor of love for the ripples that may be created, but unseen.
Every week, I make it my goal to send a card to 5 staff at each of my schools. I do the cards for the HS on Sunday night, and I do the MS cards on Monday night. At this point, it takes me at least a 1/2 hour for each set. I concoct a note, and then I add something to the top section of the card. Once it was jokes about the eclipse. Another time it was kindness quotes. Currently I also include scratch ‘n sniff stickers as well. I need to get more stickers soon.
The high school also happens to send out faculty and staff birthdays each day in the announcements, so I know exactly who is having a birthday. I have plenty of blank cards that I have been using to send birthday cards to these folks; I enjoy creating something unique and special for each one. I create a birthday saying and draw a picture to go with it in the card.
Sometimes, I hear back from staff members after they receive the card. Most of the time, I don’t, and that’s okay. It is one thing I quickly learned to accept. The point of the project was to spread kindness, not be recognized for every little bit of it. Sometimes, things are just left unsaid, and all I can hope was that the card was a bright spot in that person’s day. When I do hear back, I’m often amazed at how the cards make a difference sometimes. One staff member told me it helped give her the boost she needed to face her students on the first day (she was new to teaching), and another told me she’d just had a bad day and really needed the words in that card to boost her spirits.
I am enjoying the little differences these cards are making. I enjoy putting them together for staff, and the extra time is worth it if it makes someone’s day a little brighter. They have helped pave the way for my FlucoGram project, which is coming up in September, and I’m eager to work on that with students. That update will come near the end of the month, hopefully!
Ready, Set, Go Tech! 