Thankful teacher
Gratitude abounds in school
“Good morning, I’m so glad you are here today!” is how I greet each student every morning to acknowledge that, no matter what happened at home before they walked through the door, they are now in a safe environment surrounded by peers and educators who are grateful that they are at school today.
“When students enter class … they are more engaged, focused, [and] motivated to exert effort toward learning” (International Christian Community of Teacher Educator Journals). This statement reinforces the importance of in-person learning. In this regard, students need to be in the classroom with peers and teachers to build relationships and receive direct instruction. When students are present, physically and mentally, they are presented with more opportunities to grow, both academically and developmentally.
Teaching masked and during an ongoing pandemic has brought on a completely new understanding of and appreciation for intentional relationship building with students and the importance of non-verbal communication cues. I gained a deeper appreciation for co-workers, and gratitude for each day of in-person learning, which allowed me to see my students faceto-face.
My class spent an abundance of time in the 2020-2021 school year focusing on each other’s safety and health. The essential pieces of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs came into play as an educator and helped me focus on the most immediate needs of students. Gratitude, appreciation, respect, recognition, and relationships became the focus of instruction. Ensuring that I could meet students’ social-emotional needs meant that they would be more ready to learn and concentrate when it came to academics.
In this regard, we created a “Take What You Need” board where students would take turns writing positive affirmations on sticky notes and place them in the hallway so that other students could take the statement they needed that day to reinforce their growth mindset or use it as encouragement to know that they can do hard things throughout the day. Our staff even created a gratitude journal, where we took turns writing and/or acknowledging what we were grateful for within our school staff family.
The power of words and relationships is felt now more than ever with communication predominantly via technology; it is essential to prioritize and recognize face-to-face, in-person opportunities. “This gratitude practice occurs when people intentionally engage in conversation with others about positive events … and build social bonds with others” (Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning). We found that this mindset works best with a top-down approach, so that our students were able to see their teachers and staff members taking advantage of opportunities to lift up one another and find things, no matter how small, about which they could be grateful.
In the ever-changing world of education, policies, standards, rules, and laws, I continue to be a thankful teacher. I am thankful for the opportunity to educate a variety of students, grateful to celebrate our differences and uniqueness, and appreciative for the ability to spend each day in person.