I read this story today - one of those feel good stories amid the crawl of miserable news and advertisements posing as news on the top of the browser page. A fourth generation farmer died, effectively ending his family's farming dynasty, and his neighbors all came and harvested his crops to help the widow and her daughters realize one last harvest. You read about this family and community and it reminds you that across this nation, many wonderful, kind, good and loving people are still willing to make sacrifices to help someone in need. (You can check out the story here. ) It was bittersweet and yet heartwarming.
As we come to a week where we are to consider being thankful and to count our blessings, what do we do in the classrooms to encourage students to be thankful? In a generation that seems to harbor a spirit of entitlement, how do we tap in to the hearts and minds of students to help them cultivate thankfulness? (Or maybe it is just my class? I have students who will walk by a paper on the ground without picking it up. I'm teaching them to have basic manners- to look people in the eye, to help when someone seems to need it, to use polite words, to make way for others on a sidewalk, to leave a place better than you found it.)
Friday, one of my students was celebrating her birthday. Her mom was kind enough to bring a treat for the entire class during lunch. The snack she brought was one that was a more expensive type of treat and the kind of treat that she had to spend a good amount of time and effort to obtain. Because this mom arrived unannounced, I didn't have the opportunity to review etiquette and manners beforehand as I normally would do. When giving a set of procedures, I did do a quick "make sure to thank your hostess and wish happy birthday to the guest of honor", but I knew they were focused on the treat. Some students were grateful, but more than I care to admit were greedy and not very gracious. I have concern that if they were the farmer's neighbor that the crops might remain in the field.
Regularly, I talk about gratitude, kindness and giving as responsibilities we all have. I try to model gratitude for the little things and little kindnesses. I hope I am making inroads, but Friday was a failed assessment for me.
This week is short at my school, but for the rest of the year, I intend to create assignments and center activities that emphasize gratitude, sharing and giving. Maybe I'll even share a few here.
The first assignment will be to survey the books we are reading to find characters that display gratitude and cite evidence from text to prove their statement. Hopefully, that will go well. I just know that we have to do something to pierce the selfishness and entitlement that is growing in my fields like a weed, and that I need to cultivate the right crops in my field. We have to reach out to other teachers and encourage them to continue despite discouragement and frustration. If you come up with a great idea, please feel free to share it.
For me, I am thankful for my class, for the chance to teach them and for the opportunity that remains to show them the way. I am also thankful that you took a moment to stop by.
First published November 18, 2017
Comments
Post a Comment