My new blog was published on the Teaching with Heart, Fire and Poetry website. Here is the link:
The blog is also listed below:
Teacher Reflection: Fostering Gratitude in the
Classroom : A
Miracle in the Classroom
As one veteran teacher told me, “Getting through the school
year is like running a marathon where they expect you to sprint the whole 26.2
miles.”
I knew I would need strength and
balance to get through the roller coaster ride of the school year. I knew I had
to take care of myself physically, but just as important, I knew I needed to
have a strong spiritual foundation to handle the stress. Fortunately, a
colleague gave me a copy of Parker Palmer’s book, The Courage to Teach, to help me stay energized spiritually and keep growing
personally through all the challenges of teaching.
Early on, I was paired with another
teacher who had eleven years of experience and was a master teacher. As we planned
for the year, she noted that I had a very positive attitude and asked how I
cultivated such a sunny disposition. I told her that I worked at it by keeping
a gratitude journal. Intrigued and a bit skeptical, she said she wanted to give
it a try.
After a few weeks, she commented on
how much it helped her. One day as we were planning for the first day of
school, I had the inspiration of giving the students a gratitude journal on the
first day of class. This practice immediately helped the students. I know it
helped me. I could see how it fostered a positive and optimistic culture that
only seemed to improve as the year went on.
Still I struggled as a first-year
teacher. I was overwhelmed, trying to get everything done each day without
slipping into survival mode. Those lofty goals I had when I entered the
classroom seemed to dissipate. I didn’t think I was reaching any students and
wondered if I had what it took to be a teacher. In this dark time, an unlikely
student helped to turn things around for me.
Robert was a tough 7th grader who
didn’t seem to care about school or anything else. He was failing every subject
and by his own admission was on the brink of joining a gang. When I would pass
out the science assignment for the day, he would say, “Mr. G., science doesn’t
mean anything in my life.” Then, he would ceremoniously crumple up the
assignment and throw it in the trash saying, “I’ll take an ‘F’ for the day.”
This bothered me tremendously. I tried different things to reach him, but
nothing seemed to get through.
Then one day after Winter Break, I
handed out a new assignment about the scientific method. Surprisingly, Robert
looked intently at the page and said, “Will you help me with this Mr. G?” I was
surprised, but quickly recovered and went to his desk and guided him through
the scientific method. On the way home that night, I found myself smiling and
wondering what had happened to Robert. The next thing that ran through my mind
was, “Will this last?”
The next day, we delved further into
the scientific method, and Robert asked more questions. He even started helping
some of his fellow students who used to follow his lead throwing away their
papers right after his.
Robert’s turn around came at my
darkest hour in the classroom. I don’t know if I would have kept going if it
hadn’t been for this minor miracle. Astonished and encouraged by this
student’s turn around, I asked my mentor if she had a student like this every
year and she said that she had not had any students like this in all her years
of teaching.
When I asked Robert what had
happened, he said, “You never gave up on me Mr. G.”
I was reminded of a saying from a
pedagogy professor who would gently remind us, “All it takes to change a
student’s life is the appropriate adult at the appropriate time.” I was
fortunate to have been that appropriate adult, open to this student who needed
someone there for him. It was fortunate for him, and fortunate for me.
That was over ten years ago, and as
those original students now enter college, many have told me that they still
keep their gratitude logs, often uploading them onto their computers or iPhone.
As I reflect back on it all, I see that so much of my success as an educator
goes back to that book I still treasure and pass on to others, The Courage
to Teach, and to a practice of gratitude begun all those many years ago.
Below is a guide on using this
practice in your classroom.
Classroom
Gratitude Activity
It is ideal to begin your own
personal gratitude journal and then help your students with their own, listing
up to five gratitudes every day. Research has shown that it may be more
important to delve deeper into each individual gratitude, rather than focusing
on the number of gratitudes per day. If necessary, ask the students to record
fewer gratitudes and instead explore the second part of the gratitude, using
“because” in the prompt. This template is an example:
- Thank you for ________________________________________________________
because_______________________________________________________________
- Thank you for
________________________________________________________
because_______________________________________________________________
- Thank you for ________________________________________________________
because_______________________________________________________________
Owen
M. Griffith is a grateful teacher, guitar instructor, writer, educational
consultant, blogger, and musician, residing with his wife and son in North
Georgia. Owen has designed and led professional developments for educators
pertaining to gratitude and growth mindset, as well as other social-emotional
learning tools. Through his blog and articles on Huffington Post and
Edutopia, he has shared ideas with educators around the world. His upcoming
book, Gratitude: A Way of Teaching, will further that endeavor.
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