This week threw me back to a few weeks ago when I was just starting with Seeds of Caring, since this past week was week 1 for Session 2 of Kindness Corps this summer. We went all the way back to lesson 1, which is where we talk about who Seeds of Caring is, why we do what we do, and how kids are extremely powerful when it comes to helping our community.

Week 1 of the Kindness Corps is also our empathy lesson, which the kids learned about what empathy is and how to choose kindness every day. They made Kindness Bracelets as reminders to be kind and to do so in their everyday life, even if it is something small.

For this camp session, this week looked a bit different for me. This week was my first time teaching a Kindness Corps lesson completely by myself. I was nervous, and since I don’t have a teaching background, I wasn’t sure how I would do with this task. I feel lucky that my organization trusted me with this task, and I even studied my notes this week to make sure I was clear on all parts of the lesson.

On Tuesday morning, I taught by myself to a group of soon to be third graders and I am overall happy with how it went. I was nervous but I do feel like it was a success. During the rest of this week, myself and the other instructors worked together to teach the campers in larger groups, so we were all able to support each other during that. The kids at all the camps were very responsive to the lesson and I am looking forward to the next few weeks as we continue to go back.

On Thursday, I filmed a video with one of the programs coordinators for the Civic Engagement/Activism Anywhere Project, which will be shown to participants in the service project. In the video, I talk about my experience with government. I’m excited to be included in another area of the organization where I can expand my knowledge and help where I can.

I’ve also been helping the other Kindness Corps instructors with inputting data from Session 1. We gave the kids surveys at the end of the last lesson last week and they filled them out giving their opinions about what they have learned in the last few weeks. Overall, the results have been positive, and the kids have been able to articulate how much they have learned. I’m looking forward to teaching another great group of kids about Seeds of Caring and how they can help their community here in Columbus.