Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years and true student champion, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids!" Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don't like!” She also explained that teachers naturally don't like every student, but that students must never know. Every child needs to feel valued and to have a champion, and Ms. Pierson formed kind, caring relationships with all of her students that neither she nor they have forgotten. Truly for her, teaching was “a work of heart” – not a work of art.

Second-grader Christian Bucks, of York, Pa., knew that some of his classmates felt lonely during recess. He led the installation of a playground "buddy bench" where kids who don’t have anyone to play with can hang out. As expected, a kind camaraderie has developed between these “loner” students. And bullying of these students decreased as peer support is a great defense to bullying.

Many schools have adopted a “filling the bucket” program. Everyone has an internal “bucket” that when full, one feels confident, happy, calm, friendly, and secure. When the “bucket” is empty, it contains few, if any, positive thoughts or feelings, and the person may feel sad, nervous, angry, insecure, depressed, worried, or afraid. Students are taught how to fill others “buckets” via kind words and kind deeds. They learn how hurtful words and actions dip into someone’s “bucket”. Additionally, they also learn to use their “lid” to protect themselves from “bucket dipping”. While this is primarily used in elementary schools, middle and high schools have come up with variations to this program through such activities as sharing of sincere compliments, writing positive comments on class blogs, and promoting random acts of kindness.

Teachers have found that the Success by Design student planners are an excellent place to have students record their social goals for showing kindness, recording specific incidences reflecting their acts of kindness, and for recording contact information between students so that they can connect outside of class for not only study help but for being able to reach a friend when needed.