Angela Sanzari is a math teacher at Mission Grammar School, an urban, college-prep Catholic school dedicated to reaching individual excellence in a faith-based community rooted in Gospel values in Boston, MA. Minna Kim, ThinkGive Program Coordinator, and Scott Berman, ThinkGive Director of Marketing, recently spoke with Angela about the practices and mindset that help create a culture of kindness.
Scott Berman: Why were you interested in discussing kindness?
Angela Sanzari: I think kindness is the most important thing we can teach students at any age, and the most important thing humans can learn. In my adult life, I draw on a lot of the teachings from ThinkGive, and I model that for my students. My understanding of kindness through ThinkGive has shaped me as both a math educator and a ThinkGive educator. For students, teaching kindness gives them concrete examples and opportunities to practice, so it’s not uncomfortable when they find themselves in situations where they have the chance to be kind. Everyone feels safer and happier when surrounded by kindness, and I love that that’s a big focus of ThinkGive.
Minna Kim: You mentioned drawing on things from ThinkGive outside of school. Could you share more?
Angela Sanzari: I’m comfortable giving out compliments in my classroom and in my personal life. But I’m not necessarily good at receiving them. Activities like the “compliment speed circle,” part of the Be the Spark program, put you in both scenarios. You have to give compliments, but you also have to receive them. It helped put me in a place of safe uncomfortability, where I had to practice receiving and not deflecting, over and over again. Being open with the kids about “this is not a strength of mine, and I’m working on this too” was really impactful.
Scott Berman: Can you share an example of how focusing on kindness has helped specific students and how that spread?
Angela Sanzari: In sixth grade this year, we did the Brightening Days program. One lesson is about giving yourself kindness and grace when challenges arrive. We did that lesson close to a standardized test, and the kids came in very prepared. Some had written motivational messages on their classmates’ desks before everyone arrived. We’d talked about how to anticipate a challenge and give yourself grace. Their classmates weren’t part of ThinkGive and didn’t have that context — they just walked in and found a kind message on their desk before a hard test. It was a nice little moment for everyone.
Minna Kim: You started with the summer program and then did it for three years after school. Have you seen any long-term impact?
Angela Sanzari: My fifth graders have done it for four years, most of it spent on the Ripple Effect program, and the language of that program has really stuck with them. The idea that one act leads to another, which leads to another. They’ll say “this caused a ripple,” sometimes positively and sometimes not, using that language to connect their actions to what follows. They’ll say things like, “We all got rowdy because one person got rowdy and it caused a ripple,” or “we all settled down because so-and-so was super focused and brought us back in.” ThinkGive gives kids concrete ways to express themselves and see patterns in their own social-emotional learning.
Scott Berman: Are there things that get in the way of creating a sense of kindness?
Angela Sanzari: One of the biggest struggles I’ve experienced as an upper school teacher is technology and social media. What students consume outside of school makes it very difficult to foster a kind environment inside of school. ThinkGive gives us tools and language, and the adults in the building circle back to those to help get students back on track. But the biggest challenge is what students see and hear, like the news at home, or what was said in a group chat the night before. That trickles in and impacts how they treat each other. It’s not always a kind place in the technological world, unfortunately.
Minna Kim: Have you been able to weave any ThinkGive lessons into the digital space?
Angela Sanzari: We check in with families before each break to stay vigilant about social media, texting, and group chats, and to reinforce the appropriate, kind, and safe use of technology.
Scott Berman: How do you work with parents and guardians to support a sense of kindness?
Angela Sanzari: Every ThinkGive lesson has a “take action” moment at the end. A lot of the time it’s “go home and do this with your family, your siblings, your neighborhood friends.” So families are naturally looped in. We’re also a very small school with no buses, so I see family members every morning and afternoon. I’ve had parents stop me and say, “Last week’s lesson was about appreciating caregivers, and I got more thank-yous from my child than I’ve ever gotten.” Families also tell me how much they loved the cards their kids made — the ones that end up on the refrigerator.
When I have those face-to-face conversations, I try to talk about turning it into a habit, not just a one-time action. Our school structure makes it easy to check in and make sure the “take actions” are actually happening at home.
Minna Kim: Is there anything across the four years that’s been delightfully surprising?
Angela Sanzari: It’s funny, because I’m asking kids to do this at 3:30pm after school, when students are often lukewarm about learning activities. But since the program ended for the year, every time I walk by their classroom, they ask, “Is today a kindness day?” Every single day. And every Monday, when I walk into the sixth-grade room for my assigned duty, they ask, “Is today a ThinkGive day?” When I say no, they’re genuinely upset. In the moment, they might be a little bummed to be asked to do something — but now they miss it. It’s surprising how much they want to do it at the end of a long school day, and how much they wish it would carry forward.
Scott Berman: If you had to give an educator just one tip for creating a kind space, what would it be?
Angela Sanzari: Provide explicit opportunities for kindness — shout out the positives, and teach through the negatives. It’s easy to redirect unkind behavior, but if we can make it a teaching moment instead, that reframing makes a difference. For example: “I see that you’re frustrated — how can you get your message across in a way that people want to listen?”
Making sure students knew this was a safe place to mess up helped them be kinder to themselves and to each other when things went wrong. Modeling grace instead of going straight to a redirection creates an entirely different environment where students feel comfortable, safe, and willing to take the risk of being kind.
