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.”
No comments:
Post a Comment