As graduation time rolls around again, I am reminded of one of my favorite commencement speeches in which Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, pronounced that it is better to be kind than to be clever. It is well worth showing your students, particularly 4th grade and up. If you have younger students, you might want to show them this newly animated video of a portion of George Saunders’ graduation address to Syracuse University students last year in which he also argues for the value of kindness. (I referred to this speech in an earlier post about kindness, when I reflected on the book, Wonder.)
As I look through my Pinterest Board of Inspirational Videos for Students, I find that kindness is a common theme. Here are some others that I’ve collected through the years:
“Nothing More” – a song about kindness by Alternate Routes
“Giving” – a video that shows how kindness may be repaid many years later
“A Life Lesson” – from volunteer firefighter Mark Bezos (yes, the brother of Jeff) about how the little things can mean a lot
“Kindness Boomerang” – how paying it forward may end up paying you back
“Painted Pie” – a beautiful, post-impressionistic animation about a legacy of kindness
Shoe Collection – one of my own students, who spent her birthday helping others
“The Robin” – a great video for young students, this animation shows a robin who stands up to bullies and is then faced with being on the other side
If you have any other suggestions for videos about kindness, feel free to mention them in the comments below!
These are some inspiring videos. I will share with our teachers at our school. Even the smallest act of kindness can often change someones day or as we like to say at our school ‘Make a Difference’.
I agree, and the Mark Bezos video definitely speaks to that exact sentiment!
My student won the Illinois google doodle. I got the idea off your blog! Thank you so much!
Sent from my iPhone
Oh wow! That is awesome! I am going to look it up right now!
I have shared many of the videos from your Pinterest page with this year’s group. They love the Kindness Boomerang as well as the one that’s something like the Power of Words (they even recite the words with an Irish accent “what did you do to my sign?”). I can’t wait to share these new ones with them! Thank you so much for sharing these awesome resources! 🙂
I love The Power of Words, too! I bet your students will really like The Robin. It’s simple, but says a lot!