- Hint: Use Gratitude Journals to support the 7 Character Strengths Program: Zest, Grit, Self-Control, Optimism, Gratitude, Social Intelligence, Curiosity…
1. Believe It and Model It: We Take Responsibility at OTA for the entire day, for everything that happens on our campus, for every child who grows, or fails to grow.
2. Name It: Give a name to the intangible traits that make kids strong…
3. See More…
- Hint: Make Gratitude Journals part of Class Meetings (Read out some gratitude notes, before or after Affirmations)
“Would you like to improve the culture in your classroom and your life? Try gratitude. Based on my ten 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. Utilizing gratitude, 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.
Gratitude Journal: “To get started in your classroom…
with gratitude, I recommend actually writing your own gratitude list for a few weeks and feeling its power. Then you can share your example and start the activity with your students. You might start your gratitude journal with being thankful for being alive, for having food to eat and clothes to wear. If you can think about something related to teaching that you’re grateful for, that’s even more powerful.
“My students use a composition book and start every day by writing five gratitudes. If you have computers or iPads, you might have the students start a file to save their daily gratitude journal. By the end of the year, we each have almost 1,000 gratitudes. I show the students an example or let them see this form:
Thanks for ___________________________.
Thanks for ___________________________.
Thanks for ___________________________.
Once a week, we go around the class and share our favorite gratitude. I am always encouraged and pleasantly surprised by what my students share. I get to learn about things going on in their lives that I might not hear about otherwise. This helps build a positive culture in our classroom.
via Gratitude: A Powerful Tool for Your Classroom | Edutopia.