The Spirituality of Storytelling

Storytelling is an integral aspect of teaching and life.  We tell stories to communicate, to impart wisdom, to entertain, to amuse and to make sense out of our human experience.  We need it as much as we need food or love.

Recently, I heard E. O. Wilson, the great naturalist and writer, talking about how storytelling is one of the most human things we can participate in.  I agree.  He said that it feels like we are hard wired to tell stories, both personal and epoch, to share our human condition: the love, the humor, the sadness and the deep lessons that stories convey in a way that nothing else can.  Stories truly connect us and the lessons they impart stay with us well beyond the story.

Every Friday, as a reward to my students, I tell students stories from my personal life and stories I have heard.  The students are riveted and ask for more.  We discuss the meanings of these stories and how they apply to our lives.  A few parents have related that the students have gone home and related these stories word for word.  The best stories transmit wonder, something that we can always use more of in the classroom and life.

 Here is one of my favorite stories to tell the students.  If you like it, share it and feel free to change and adapt it to make them more meaningful.

Story #1-The House Builder

Once there was a house builder named Joe who had built houses for over 40 years.  He was ready to retire, but his boss told him he wanted him to build one more house.  Joe didn’t want to build the house, but told his boss that he would do it, if he could retire immediately upon completion of the house.  The boss agreed.

Joe worked quickly and sloppily with his crew, not laying enough cement for the foundation, only putting on one coat of paint, and cutting corners wherever he could to get the job done quickly.  He didn’t feel good about the shoddy job, but he just wanted to get it done.  He knew the house would look OK for a couple years, but then, all the poor workmanship would show, after he was gone.

He did finish ahead of schedule and his boss asked him to meet him at the work site the next day.  That next day, Joe approached his boss with shame, feeling that his boss had figured out what was going on.  Surprisingly, Joe’s boss had an enormous smile on his face.  He asked Joe to hold out his hand.  He pulled out a key, placed it in Joe’s hand and said, “Joe, I appreciate all the hard work you have done for me over the past 40 years, so I wanted you to build one more house so I can give to you.  Here is your house that you get to live in Joe.  Enjoy it.”

Many students see this story as an example of building their education and the importance of not cheating or taking shortcuts.  

I will end with a quote from Fred Rogers, the creator and star of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood on PBS.  He carried around a quote in his wallet from a social worker that said, “There isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn to love once you have heard their story.”  We all have a story, we just need to take the time to listen and learn to love a little more.

I will share a couple other favorite stories next week.

Serenity Prayer for Teachers

As we start the school year, I wanted to give teachers a special adaptation of the Serenity Prayer.  As you have read in a previous blog post, I love the Serenity Prayer.  Every day, I say it and attempt to apply it in my life.  I found this prayer on a coffee mug a student gave me.  Parents may find this prayer useful also.

Serenity Prayer for Teachers

God, grant me the serenity to accept

Each child and appreciate their unique talents,

Courage to teach with patience and love, and

Wisdom to know that through it all,

You will be by my side.

My quote today is inspirational for everyone:

Do More

Do more than exist, Live

Do more than touch, Feel

Do more than look, Observe

Do more than read, Absorb

Do more than hear, Listen

Do more than listen, Understand

Do more than think, Ponder

Do more than talk, Say Something.

- John H. Rhoades

How to Change Your Classroom and Yourself with Gratitude-updated

I am posting my article that was published in June in Teacher’s Gazette so anyone who didn't get a chance to view it may now read it.  Also, here are a couple great stories of applying the principles of gratitude in our daily lives.  My sister said she got in her car after a long day and instead of automatically turning on the radio, she started to do a gratitude list, saying it aloud.  She said it made her feel much better than listening to the radio.  I am trying this and really feeling re-energized, when I do it.  Also, another friend now does an alphabetical gratitude list when driving, especially when stopped at red lights, trying to find a gratitude for every letter of the alphabet.  I have done this one and it is fun and a little mentally challenging.

How to Change Your Classroom and Yourself with Gratitude

By:  Owen M. Griffith

Would you like to improve the culture in your classroom and your life?   Try gratitude. Based on my nine years of teaching experience, this is the most powerful tool that I know.  

Gratitude has empowered me to teach more effectively, appreciate my individual students, grow in my profession, and enjoy life.  I am able to model one of the most important lessons in life, having a positive attitude, especially about the aspects of life that challenge me.  In fact, last year I was voted teacher of the year at my school, a direct result of practicing gratitude in my life and in my classroom.

The average adult has over 50,000 separate thought on a daily basis, according to estimates.  In itself, that is amazing.  But, more interesting, these may be the same thoughts as yesterday and tomorrow. Thus, many trudge through life thinking similar thoughts every day.  Now, if you feel satisfied, this is acceptable.  However, if you want to change your life and your classroom, you need to make room for some change.  Gratitude can help change some of those thoughts and lead to changing your life and in turn, the lives of your students.  

I recommend actually writing a list instead of just being aware of gratitude.  Gratitude seems to work like a muscle, and the physical action of writing a gratitude list helps develop “gratitude muscles.”  However, keeping a gratitude journal on your iphone as an app or your computer is also powerful.  In a recent study by Professor Phillip Watkins from Eastern Washington University, published recently in School Psychology review, those who are the least grateful seem to gain the most from making this effort.  This should be good news for people whose “gratitude muscles” feel weak.  As teachers and as parents, we know that we can only teach behavior that we practice.  As the saying goes, “Virtues are caught, not taught.”  As we grow stronger with an attitude of gratitude, it will be easier to share this virtue with our students.

As a 4th grade school teacher, my students and I start a gratitude journal the first day of the school year, listing 5 gratitudes every day.  By the end of the year, we each have 1,000 gratitudes.  We try to think of five new items to be grateful for every day, like feeling the abundance of love, or being healthy, or being thankful for friends, both old and new friends.  One girl said, “Thank you for all the bad stuff that happens to me.” 

We can be grateful for things that seem to be bad at the time, seeing the lessons we lean and new opportunities that come from them.  These are lessons in courage, wisdom, persistence and fortitude.  

I can really challenge the students by asking if they can be thankful for homework or chores. This challenge enables the students to see what is good about homework, that it helps them learn and prepares them for school.  In addition, I suggest that they be specific. For example, instead of writing “Thank you for lunch.” I can write, “Thank you for the tomatoes and lettuce in my salad and for the cool, sweet iced tea with friends,” or “Thank you for the nutritious lunch made by loving hands.”

To introduce the importance of gratitude, I ask the students, “Are there things in life that we do not control?”  Creative students come up with answers beyond the weather and the behavior of others.  We stop the list after twenty-five items.  Then I ask, “What do we not have control over?”  This is a little harder for some, but eventually they all get it – they only thing we can control is ourselves.  More specifically, we control our actions, our attitude and our awareness.  This exercise in gratitude will help us with all three areas.  When I am grateful for everything given to me in life, I will have a good attitude and my actions will be more positive.  When I focus on the positive, my awareness of the positive grows also.  

You might start your gratitude journal with being thankful for being alive, for having food to eat and clothes to wear.  Then think of what you get to do today and include that on your list.  The important word in the last sentence is “get.”  When I am grateful, I “get” to do things instead of having to do them.  I used to hate waiting in line.  In our fast-paced, technological society, with everything at our fingertips, many of us are impatient, as I was, with even a one minute wait.  But now, I “get” to wait in line and take that time to make a quick gratitude list.   

Recent research supports the idea that gratitude improves our lives and the lives of students.  Keeping a gratitude journal on a daily basis helps students achieve the following:

·         higher grades

·         higher goals

·         more satisfaction with relationships, life and school

·         less materialism

·         more willing to give back.

For adults, keeping a gratitude journal enables people to:

·         be more optimistic

·         experience more social satisfaction

·         exercise more often

·         have less envy and depression

·         have fewer physical complaints

·         sleep better.

I see these positive changes in my students.  One student saved her allowance and brought gratitude journals for her family. Her mom was in nursing school and very stressed. At the dinner table, they would share their gratitudes for the day and grow as a family.  The mom came to me and thanked me for teaching gratitude to her daughter and helping her family.  She said it helped her get through nursing school.

I challenge you to try it yourself and see how it works. My friends who have written a daily gratitude journal for at least two weeks speak positively of the experience.  Gratitude has transformed many lives.  It is true that our focus can stimulate growth.  If I focus on the good and I am grateful, more comes into my life.  Conversely, if I complain and focus on the negative, more of that is drawn into my life.  In my life, the fruit of the focus on gratitude is happiness.  As Dale Carnegie has said, “Success is getting what you want.  Happiness is wanting what you get.”

If you are interested in other resources to explore gratitude, please visit the following website: www.gratfulness.org