CHARACTER COUNTS! Kindness 101

Admiration - Young Girl Finds Unlikely Hero

Admiration is respect or warm regard for someone or something. When you admire someone, you might feel inspired or amazed by their talent, skill, or behavior.

Admiration
Grade Level: K-12
 
Character Skills
  • Respect
  • Caring
SEL Skills
  • Relationship Skills
  • Self-Awareness
Academic Skills
  • Curiosity and Passion

Definitions

Respect
  • Follow the Golden Rule.
  • Be accepting of differences.
  • Be courteous to others.
  • Deal peacefully with anger, insults, and disagreements.
  • Be considerate of others’ feelings.
Caring
  • Be kind.
  • Be compassionate.
  • Express gratitude.
  • Forgive others.
  • Be considerate of others’ feelings.
Relationship Skills

Create positive relationships and meaningful connections with family members, classmates, and teachers.

Self-Awareness

Identify and understand emotions, values, attitudes, motivations, mindsets, and personal attributes.

Curiosity and Passion

Enthusiastic to understand more about themselves, others, and the world around them.

Learn more about our character, SEL, and academic outcomes.
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The Ray Center at Drake University

Students will explore the power of admiration and the impact that those we admire have on our lives; they will celebrate the people they admire in their own lives.

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activiate prior knowledge

Activate Prior Knowledge

  • What does admiration mean?
    • Admiration is a feeling of deep respect or approval for someone or something.
  • Who do you admire? What makes them admirable?
Kindness 101

Kindness 101 Video

discussion

Discussion Prompts

Think about the video.

  • What traits do you think are most often admired?
  • What do the traits you admire in a person say about you?
  • How would you react if you had the opportunity to talk to your idol, like Paisley did?
  • How does sharing your admiration make the other person feel?
  • How does sharing your admiration make you feel?
  • How does admiration connect to honoring someone’s legacy?
materials

Activity Materials

  • Pencils and paper
activity

Activity: Who Inspires You?

  • Students will write a letter to someone they admire.
  • The letter should include:
    • Specific traits they admire in this person, and examples of how they have seen this person show those traits.
    • How the recipient has inspired the student.
    • The impact they made on the student’s life.
  • Challenge students to share the letter with this person. Help them find strategies to get in contact with the person they admire if they are struggling to get the letter to them.
  • Optional: Randomly give students the names of their peers and have them identify traits they admire in this person.

  • Follow-up questions:
    • What traits do you admire in the person you wrote your letter to?
    • Compile the class’s list of traits and check for commonalities.
    • After looking for themes, ask: do you show these admirable traits? How can you show them more?
journal prompts

Journal Prompts

K-5

  • What qualities do you often admire in other people?
  • Why is it important to have someone to look up to?

6-12

  • Who was your childhood hero? Which of their qualities did you admire?
    • Has that hero ever let you down? Do you still admire them?
  • What qualities do you hope others admire in you?
family connection

Family Connection

Educators: Copy the Family Connection and email it to parents or click here to download a PDF version to email or print.

Watch

Discuss

Use these questions to start meaningful conversations about admiration.

  • Who do you admire most?
  • Consider the people you interact with in the world. How can you let them know what you admire about them?
  • What do you admire about each member of our family? Take turns, giving everyone the chance to share their admiration for each family member.

Activity

  • Take turns watching each family member’s favorite movie or television show, or reading a favorite book. 
  • After finishing, talk about the different things you admire about the main characters. 
  • Brainstorm what you can learn from the main characters about being an admirable person.

More Kindness 101 Activities

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