Every year around Thanksgiving right before we break for the holiday I always do a lesson on empathy and selflessness. I show a video called "If you give a little love", read the article "60 Things to be Grateful For" and a story about an amazing 92 year old blind woman's outlook on life. I tell my students we choose the attitude we have, we decide if the glass is half empty or full. I then ask my students to write at least 3 things or more on an index card that they truly appreciate in their lives' to the point that if it was no longer there, a hole would be left in their hearts'.. the reason I explain it like this is because I do not want to hear " My I phone 6, my video games etc." After they all write the things that they appreciate the most, one by one they come up in front of the class and share because we are a family, the 303 Family. I then staple every card on a tree in the back of my classroom and those cards stay on the tree until the end of the year. It is all about reflection. Finally, I sat last weekend and wrote 60 thank you cards to my students. Each individualized, telling them what they mean to me and thanking them for being in my life because of how special they really are. It does get emotional at times and when I handed out the thank you cards this year, my students looked perplexed, almost as if they did not understand why I was thanking them for being who they are and in my life...when they each opened the cards they saw why... quickly the confusion left their faces, this all happened on this past Monday. Yesterday... Tuesday... I saw many of the thank you notes in the front sleeve of the students binders'... I smiled to myself... At the end of 4th period class yesterday when I was packing up my things to go home.. my students handed me what are in the pictures below...
All I can say is I will cherish these writings always ... I do what I do because I love what I do. I am an Educator that not only teaches the subject I am paid for, but I also teach life lessons. I get exhausted with grading papers, planning lessons, and sometimes it is hard to keep my chin up with everything Educators are up against today... but like I explain to my students, we choose how we perceive things, we choose our outlook no matter how hard things can get... We have a choice and yes, sometimes we have to fight like hell to see that glass half full, but again it is a personal choice... I am blessed.
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