Thankful Thursday - Starting the day through attendance with a happy tone

How practiced is your "good morning students" speech? Here is a rough example of mine as a relief teacher:

 "Good morning. My name is Mrs. Edwin. I will be teaching you today as (teacher name) is home sick. You will notice that some things I do are the same and others will be a little difference, but together I'm sure we will get through an awesome day. Etc, etc. Thank you for having me in your class today, I am happy to be given the opportunity to work with you."

Believe it or not, I think that last statement is as important as the first few. I believe starting the day positively and acknowledging the students should be a basic part of our mornings. Let me give you a more personal at-home story to demonstrate my point.

I am not really a morning person. I can be when I need to be, but I prefer not having to be. My
husband discovered this quickly when he started work again after we got married. He would get up anywhere between 6am and 6:20am, early by some standards and not at all by others. I would drag
myself out of bed, as the loving wife, and make his coffee while he showered. The leftovers from dinner would be packed in his lunch containers and I'd sit with him during breakfast, wave as he left, shut the garage door, and return to bed. The first week or so, this routine was fine for me, but then my 'true morning colours' began to show. He would ask me to make his toast because he was two minutes late and I would grumble. He'd ask for mayonnaise to go on his salad and I would snap. He'd ask me if I was going to post that letter today and I would disappear into the bedroom and leave him to say goodbye to himself. Oh the joys of being a newly wed! He would argue that some nights he didn't sleep well, but he didn't snap at me. I would argue that I couldn't help not being a morning person. Finally, being Christians, we realised what was missing from our routine. Believe it or not, we hadn't started our days by praying together and thanking God for our blessings. For some, this may seem like a needless or foolish thing to do. For us, it is necessary. Each day, we wake up just a little earlier and mutter some prayers before dragging ourselves out of bed. Since starting the day on a positive note and setting my vision straight on my blessings, I'm suddenly a morning person! I haven't snapped once at him for the silly little things (does anyone else hate the sound of cereal being eaten?!). This just reminded me how important it is to start strong on a positive note.

During my final semester of university, in the first few weeks of one of our units, we were explicitly taught the benefits of being thankful ourselves and generating a positive atmosphere in the classroom. I have heard it said that for some students, simply arriving to school is an accomplishment for them, and they appreciate that being acknowledged by a grateful teacher. Some of these 'difficult students' were no problem in this class. How many of us incorporate thankfulness into our behaviour management plan?!

As I was thinking about thankfulness and starting the day right, it occurred to me an easy way to do this in the classroom. Finishing off my statement of what I am thankful for or why I am happy, I ask the students, "When I call out your name, can you please tell me what you are thankful for today." Depending on the age and how many days you have the students, you can change this up for age-appropriate language or a different question for different days. Responding to students' answers will also allow them to see that you are interested in them and perhaps have something in common. Here are a few examples that allow students to start the day focusing on the positive and allow you some insight into the lives of your students:

• List three reasons to be happy today.
• Tell me the best thing that happened to you on the weekend (or yesterday, or last week).
• Tell us one thing you are looking forward to (be prepared with a clever answer for the inevitable 'leaving school' or 'going home' if you ask this one).
• Share something you like about this school (again, there maybe a 'nothing' response, so could you get away with saying something like "I see. So you love getting out of the classroom? Is there something you think we could do outside the classroom today?")
• Introduce me to someone in the class and tell me something fabulous about them I might not know or find out on my own today.
• Who is your favourite teacher in this school and why? (And if you are their regular teacher, you could ban them from saying you are to encourage them to think outside the regular classroom. Otherwise, as a relief teacher, take some notes for the regular teacher so she can see what students appreciate about her.)

As a final thought, if you wanted the students to leave with a positive impression of the day, excuse them to get their bags by asking similar questions (you could also use this for feedback on your teaching or their learning for the day by creating appropriate reflective questions).

Want to know more about gratitude in the classroom? Bounce over to these pages for some additional info:

• Edutopia - Gratitude Can Fuel School Transformation: an article on the impact of gratitude in a school environment and how teachers can practice it.
• Great Schools - The Grateful Child: looking into the 'new science' of gratitude studies, how gratitude impacts children, and how children can be taught thankfulness (don't miss the little list on the left of nine ways to teach gratitude).
• Greater Good - Gratitude Activities For the Classroom: a great list of ideas to incorporate to develop a positive environment in the classroom (and a warning that these should take place only once a week to have the maximum impact).
• Archdiocese Chicago Catholic Schools - 3 Simple Steps to Building Resilience Using an Attitude of Gratitude: a short sweet article which links the desirable characteristic of resilience to gratitude.

So there you go, a few good reasons to be happy and thankful I hope? How many of you encourage thankfulness this far away from Thanksgiving?