Gratitude Journals Part 2

I wanted to do a quick follow up to the gratitude journals we did a couple of weeks ago. I am feeling so happy about them! I've asked the students to write at least two things in their gratitude journals each day. Most students have loved it and write more than two things. Some students don't write it down but share with the rest of the class what they are grateful for, and some students don't participate at all. I don't pressure them to come up with things, and I just hope that us discussing each day will still have positive benefits for them. 

I think it's important for the students to know that I am participating in this too. So I always write my gratitude items on the board. This also helps remind the students to write in their journals and hopefully gets them thinking about other things they can be grateful for. 

One of my favorite moments of the day is about ten minutes after the bell rings and right before we start math. I always ask the students to get their math assignment out, and as they are doing it I ask them who would like to share what they wrote. The responses are always interesting and range from everything like Angry Birds Go to family to friends to pizza to pets. A few of my favorite ones have been Miss Jarvie (It always warms my soul), my classmates (YES!!!), and forgiveness. I was blown away with that last one. Even sixth graders realize what a gift forgiveness can be. Overall, I am so happy that I did gratitude journals with my students. I am glad I started in January because I think it gave enough time for the kids to get comfortable with each other enough to share. This is a tradition I will most definitely continue on!

Having an Attitude of Gratitude

One of my goals for 2014 is to live with more gratitude. My friend Becky (who takes amazing photos that you should check out here) made the suggestion when I posted about resolutions on Instagram and I thought it would be a great resolution for me to take part of too. So then I figured, well if I have to live with more gratitude then my students should too! And no...I don't have to do it...I'm just being sarcastic. 

So I started researching and I found out that living with gratitude and keeping a gratitude journal can actually lead to a better life and better health. According to the University of California, they listed the following benefits of gratitude and well-being:

• In an experimental comparison, those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).
• In a sample of adults with neuromuscular disease, a 21-day gratitude intervention resulted in greater amounts of high energy positive moods, a greater sense of feeling connected to others, more optimistic ratings of one’s life, and better sleep duration and sleep quality, relative to a control group.
• A daily gratitude intervention (self-guided exercises) with young adults resulted in higher reported levels of the positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy compared to a focus on hassles or a downward social comparison (ways in which participants thought they were better off than others). There was no difference in levels of unpleasant emotions reported in the three groups.
• Participants in the daily gratitude condition were more likely to report having helped someone with a personal problem or having offered emotional support to another, relative to the hassles or social comparison condition.
• Children who practice grateful thinking have more positive attitudes toward school and their families (Froh, Sefick, & Emmons, 2008

That last finding was reason enough for me to have my students participate with me in living with more gratitude. They may not appreciate it now, but hopefully one day they will see that gratitude has its benefits. I have searched Pinterest for various ideas and came across these cute little journals using mini composition books. Hopefully I can find them for about 25 cents a piece, and I have oodles of paper the kids could use to cover them. I'll report back and let you know how it goes!

Sometimes I wonder if I have time for these "extra" classroom activites. But then I realize, I don't have time to not do them. In my opinion, kids need more than just the curriculum. They need a teacher who will model for them exemplary behavior as a citizen of the community as well as a member of the classroom. Kids need to learn compassion, discipline, accountability, honesty, dedication, and so much more. As a teacher, I truly believe its my responsibility to help mold these kids for the better. Kind of overwhelming but it's really the reason that I wanted to become a teacher. And man, I love those little sixth graders!

Wow...kind of a rant. Would love to know your thoughts on what it means to be teacher - whether its from a teacher point of view, parent point of view, or even a student point of view. So share aware!