Connect with Kindness: Transformative SEL Strategies The Build Resilient Classrooms

Dates: Saturday, September 13 AND Saturday, September 20, 2025

Time: 9:00am–12:00pm Hawaii, 12:00-3:00pm Pacific, 2:00-5:00pm Central, 3:00-6:00pm Eastern

Location: Online Via Zoom

Cost: $175 per individual, $125 per person for teams of 2+

In today’s complex world, teaching kindness and fostering empathy in pre-K–12 students is not just important—it’s essential. This two-part virtual professional development series (comprising two 3-hour sessions) equips educators with the tools to create caring school environments by grounding instruction in the neurosequential model of brain development, the neuroscience of kindness, and the science of resilience. Participants will explore how these developmentally sensitive, trauma-informed approaches promote self-regulation, relational engagement, and individualized learning while supporting emotional growth and academic success amidst adversity and stress in the classroom. The series introduces the concept of “mirrors and windows,” helping teachers foster identity formation and deepen students’ understanding of others. It offers clear, research-based strategies for promoting resilience and building protective factors while also providing practical approaches to embedding kindness and empathy into the classroom and beyond.

Central to the series is Connect with Kindness—a flexible, child-generated, teacher-friendly, project-based SEL curriculum designed to enhance existing programs with engaging, hands-on lessons. Drawing from the voices and original work of children in 45 countries, it fosters meaningful connections through kindness in action. These lessons align with CASEL competencies, trauma-informed practices, restorative practice models, and frameworks of equity and inclusion. They vary in length and can be delivered in short or extended formats, making it easy for educators to integrate them into busy school schedules. As schools implement this curriculum, they embark on a transformative journey toward becoming Kindness Schools, learning environments shaped by compassion, kindness, student voice, and a collective commitment to emotional well-being. Educators will gain insights into how a Kindness School operates—guided by stories and visuals from pilot schools worldwide—and discover how to adopt its mission, values, and practices. They will navigate the steps, strategies, and school-wide activities—including the formation of Kindness Councils and the establishment of kindness traditions—that support this cultural shift.

Participants will depart with FREE access to all curriculum materials and a practical roadmap for transforming their classrooms and schools into Kindness Schools—places where kindness, empathy, compassion, and care foster meaningful, measurable change. (For more information, visit kindnessreset.org.)

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES

Participants will be able to:

Recognize the attributes and steps to become a Kindness School and the transformative nature of this process.
Understand the neuroscience of brain development and the Neurosequential Model in education, created by Dr. Bruce Perry.
Examine the significance of becoming a Kindness School by exploring the connection between consistent acts of kindness and the overall culture of the school, as well as their relevance to the local culture.
Understand how to develop resilient students who can bounce back from adversity.
Gain a deep understanding of all components of the kindness curricular materials by thoroughly reviewing example lessons, applying the Participation Rubrics to measure success, and incorporating consensus-building strategies with children of all ages.
Integrate the curricular materials with other instructional approaches to foster a positive cultural shift in participants' schools and classrooms.

WORKSHOP AGENDA

Session One:

9:00 -10:20 AM: Why focus on kindness and empathy? The neuroscience of brain development, the sequence of engagement within the brain, and age-related empathy development. Introduction of a Kindness School concept: definition, mission, and core values. Past and current Kindness School examples.
Q/As – 10 minutes
10:30 -10:40AM: Break
10:40-12:00 PM: Developing Resilience in Students with Connect with Kindness Curricula and Kindness School. Examples: introduction and its importance.

Session Two:

9:00 – 10:20 AM: Connect with Kindness Curricula: in detail to include Participation Rubrics and consensus.
10:20 – 10:30 AM: Break
10:30 – 11:10 AM: Kindness School: Year 2. Kindness traditions; Kindness Council; atmosphere of entertainment and fun.
11:10 – 11:55 AM: Understanding how to infuse the academic curriculum with kindness as part of becoming a Kindness School by reviewing the concept of “mirrors and windows” when selecting literature for children.
Wrap-up.

ABOUT THE FACILITATORS

Amy Spangler – As a lifelong public school leader, Amy has had a significant impact on countless learning communities for more than 30 years. A “trailing spouse”, Amy has been afforded the opportunity to serve schools in Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, and Minnesota as well as in the international school community of Tokyo, Japan. She actively holds an administrator's license in Oregon.

Amy’s key to transformational success as a principal in school communities is her unwavering drive to always do what is best for children by collaboratively strategizing how to markedly improve staff and student culture, which paves the way for her schools to make significant academic gains as measured by state assessments. Notably known as a servant leader, Amy carefully listens to and engages others through authentic collaboration, shared leadership, and grit. Amy has also served as a teacher; gifted and talented program manager and professional developer; strategic planning director, principal mentor; adjunct professor; and worked on special assignments leading comprehensive public education transformation projects. As a senior leader, she, and her team developed/delivered learning to 30,000 teachers, managers, and executive leaders within a privately held early childhood education corporation. An ardent volunteer, Amy has led nonprofit organizations as a member of the board of directors, serving both as vice president, and president in four organizations.

Very recently, Amy has presented at 3 international conferences and has been a guest professor at the University de Turin in Italy. She serves on a nonprofit board raising funds for homeless Veterans and is a volunteer advocate for children with special needs. She has authored several articles/chapters for distinguished books and publications. She is the primary coauthor of Connect with Kindness: Child-Generated, Teacher Friendly Supplementary SEL Curricula (2023), which is currently being used world-wide. Amy is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of the nonprofit organization, International Kindness Reset. Amy measures her success through the children whose lives she has served.

Tatyana Tsyrlina-Spady, PhD – Tatyana is a distinguished academic with an extensive background in education. Formerly an Adjunct Professor at Seattle Pacific University (USA) and Professor Emerita at Kursk State University (Russia), she also holds the title of Vice-Provost Emerita at the Regional Open Social Institute (Russia). Tatyana is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Russian-American Education Forum, an online journal. As a visiting professor at the Summer Institute on Child Advocacy in Action at UBC (Canada, 2019), Tatyana has made significant contributions to the global academic community and child advocacy. Boasting a portfolio of over 20 books and numerous papers, her expertise lies in the theory and history of education, as well as educational psychology. Her recent work involves a critical comparative analysis of history teaching in modern Russia, innovative approaches to fostering kindness and compassion in children and young adults, and the role of culture in strengthening the resilience of young people in Ukraine today.

Tatyana has actively participated in international multimedia projects for children worldwide, particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, with a strong focus on kindness. She served as the director and international coordinator of these projects and a co-author of "Connect with Kindness: Child-Generated Teacher-Friendly Supplementary SEL Curricula" (2023). Tatyana has presented at over 60 international conferences worldwide, authored chapters for edited volumes, published papers in peer-reviewed journals, and contributed articles to online journals, all showcasing her unwavering commitment to education and global well-being.

Currently, Tatyana serves as the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of the nonprofit, International Kindness Reset, and holds the position of Director at the Kindness City-School: International Contest. Her leadership and dedication continue to make a positive impact on the fields of education, child advocacy, and global kindness initiatives.

THIS WORKSHOP IS INTENDED FOR

Pre-K-12 educators, support staff, school administrators, and after-school programming staff

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