TL;DR:

• This post is about the importance of showing gratitude to the people, experiences, and rewards that we accumulate through life’s journey.
• Celebrate your students’ cultural celebrations.
• Find out the “why” of the traditions behind the celebration.

Teaching Gratitude

It’s Thanksgiving season. I love hosting Thanksgiving meals with family. I have learned over the years that gratitude is one of the deepest emotions that we can have as human beings. To stop and slow down in life and appreciate the important things that enrich our lives is the ability to be in the present moment. This post is about the importance of showing gratitude to the people, experiences, and rewards that we accumulate through life’s journey. If you haven’t ever considered keeping a gratitude journal, try that or a gratitude vision board because it will change your life and make it more of a reflective experience.

Gratitude for the People in Our Lives

The people we bring into our lives are what make our life special and important. We make memories with the family and friends we cherish close to our hearts.

Each person teaches us about what really matters in life—health, wealth, and the importance of living life by giving back to society the way you can. Pick friends carefully and hold your family members accountable and close because they are people that were chosen for you and you have to embrace what they have to teach you.

This post is about the importance of showing gratitude to the people, experiences, and rewards that we accumulate through life’s journey. Click To Tweet

Gratitude for the Experiences That Life Brings Into Our Lives

The most challenging experiences teach us about being resilient, kind, and compassionate towards others. Sometimes they make us stronger to embrace that life is not easy. I always liked reading about the paths that we take to accomplish a life goal. Do you take the direct route? Or do you embrace the journey and experience the stops? Take the time to visualize the new opportunities and embrace getting to the goals by enjoying the moments of getting there.

Gratitude for the Rewards and Accomplishments

I do believe that at some point all of us need rewards. Sometimes they can be small like positive intentions or praise and other times they can be big like a vacation or purchasing a dream car. Rewards give us an opportunity to be successful and for that, I think we should invest gratitude toward achieving them.

Thanksgiving is one of my favourite times and celebrations. If I pick one celebration to call my own that I would host for all families it would be the amazing family gathering over the long weekend in October which is very Canadian! Our historical reasons for appreciating and celebrating the harvest season is the common ground and roots behind this awesome celebration.

We all as individuals want to feel belonging in a classroom community.  As we build that trustworthy relationship, open communication, and embed talk time to share in our lessons, we have to know that all of us are different in our own unique way. We have to celebrate when embracing multiculturalism, diversity, and social justice-driven curriculum principles.

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Teaching Gratitude: Suggestions for Your Classroom From Mine

• Teach about a holiday that is not celebrated in your classroom.
• Celebrate your students’ cultural celebrations.
• Find out the “why” of the traditions behind the celebration.

Strategies for Teaching Gratitude That Have Worked In My Classroom at Any Grade Level

• Start out with a conversation.
• Use a picture book.
• Use student interest to research.
• Present with drama reporting skills.
• “Jigsaw” groups to teach others in the class through collaborative learning tasks.
• Teach something new; expose students to the unfamiliar.
• Celebrate a familiar tradition or holiday or celebration.
• Use student leaders to facilitate discussion.
• Maintain a safe space.

Reflection: Think about how you can incorporate a gratitude journal or board into your life as an educator. Try to add one thing to it each month as you reflect. Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours.

Yours in Education,

Nilmini

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About Nilmini Ratwatte-Henstridge

Nilmini Ratwatte-Henstridge teaches in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. She was born in Sri Lanka and immigrated to Canada with her family. As an elementary school teacher who is passionate about equity, social justice, and human rights in education, she enjoys teaching the younger generation to be global-minded citizens.

Discovering the world by connecting with others is an opportunity that we have today in our society today and she loves meeting new people! She is always learning while traveling to understand the inter-connectedness of this beautiful earth we live in! Nilmini LOVES cooking great meals, watching movies, and the latest fashion trends! Family and friends are close to her heart as she looks forward to balancing social media and navigating professional learning communities in education to network globally this year!