Red Wing, Minnesota — Education in the U.S. involves spending billions on teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. But the subject of kindness remains overlooked in many places. That is changing with programs like Kindness 101, which use real-life stories to teach kindness and character in schools.
The program integrates stories from CBS News’ award-winning series On the Road. These stories are matched with lesson plans developed by a nonprofit at Drake University in Iowa, called Character Counts! Scott Raecker, executive director of Character Counts!, said, “We could develop curricular resources around these stories that elevate the best of our country…and we’re going to do all this so that educators don’t have to pay to get them.”
Among the many teachers adopting Kindness 101 is Neil Lahammer from Burnside Elementary School in Red Wing, Minnesota. He is part of a growing community of over 100,000 educators utilizing these lessons. Accessible through Kindness101.com, the lessons aim to inspire kindness and good character in millions of children globally.
Lahammer shared his perspective, “When I see the students duplicating what they’re seeing in the videos…and as a teacher, that’s gold.” One student expressed the impact of the lessons, saying, “Just makes me want to be a better person.”
Lahammer founded a Kindness Club where students choose to skip recess for activities like food drives and glove drives, promoting kindness throughout the school. “It’s just amazing the way these kids want to help out others,” Lahammer said. He also shares his learning methods with other teachers, aiming to create more kindness advocates.
This dedication led to Lahammer becoming the inaugural recipient of the Kindness 101 National Teacher of the Year award, presented in April during a gala in Des Moines, Iowa. The event marked the start of an annual tradition.
Students express strong appreciation for Lahammer’s influence. One student stated, “He makes me smarter and he makes me happier. He’s my whole world.”