LifeVestInside. (2014, December 6). TED Talk - Kindness - Orly Wahba [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn9VxUPlC5g
(TED Talk video, at grade level, teacher led)
In this TED Talk, Orly Wahba, former middle school teacher and founder of the nonprofit Life Vest Inside, discusses the power of kindness. She begins by recounting how she first introduced acts of kindness cards to her middle school students. They began to feel powerful as they saw the effects of their small acts of kindness, and they realized that kindness was contagious. She includes a short video demonstrating how one simple act of kindness by one person could cause a ripple effect of kindness, affecting a number of other people and just making their days better. She also talks about a personal story in which she stood up for a student who was a “bully” and now that same student is in college mentoring troubled youth. Wahba emphasizes how everyone, no matter how big or small, with just one simple act of kindness can help change the world.
The video is only ten minutes long, includes a short video that is quite touching, and Wahba is an inspirational speaker. It is a good addition to this text set because it is specifically about the power of “choosing kind,” and it gives examples of concrete ways to show kindness. This video may spark discussion in the class and perhaps even inspire students to start an acts of kindness project as well.