Sharing GRATITUDE…a Timely Topic to Discuss with Families and Students

What is GRATITUDE?

Gratitude is far more than being simply ‘thankful’. According to Brian Tracy, a Canadian-American motivational speaker, these are the “4 A’s of Gratitude”:

• Appreciation: Expressing gratitude for people and things in your life
• Approval: Praising and giving approval for ideas, suggestions, and reasonable effort 
• Admiration: Complimenting people on their accomplishments and traits
• Attention: Listening to others with patience, thoughtfulness, and without interrupting

Professor Andrea Hussong of The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, believes in the NOTICE-THINK-FEEL-DO method of practicing gratitude:

• Notice what you have in your life or has come into your life, no matter how small.
• Think about why you have received this gift, who played a role in making it possible and why they did so.
• Feel the positive emotions that come with receiving from others and connecting them to the real gift — the kindness, generosity or love that someone else has shown you.
• Then do something to express your appreciation.

Why Teach About Gratitude?

Many positive outcomes of practicing gratitude exist. These include, but are not limited to a boost feel-good chemicals, stress regulation, the attuning the human brain to positivity, enhancement of neural connectivity in the areas of the brain associated with social bonding, and improved self-esteem. Now, who amongst us would argue with these results?

Teaching gratitude allows all of us to stop and reflect, as well as develop empathy and compassion for others. Let me share two quotes which connect reading with empathy:

“Being able to pass over into another’s thoughts and feelings is the foundation for developing empathy and compassion for people we’ll never meet.” Maryanne Wolf, Ed.D.

“Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.” Malorie Blackman

In my mind, this is one of the main goals of Social Emotional Learning (SEL), which has come to the forefront in many educational settings of late. The Center for Responsive Schools does a nice job of explaining empathy, as well as explaining ways to foster empathy across many age groups.

I Got to Thinking About a Recently Posed Question From a Parent

I help moderate a very large (almost 2.5K members!) Face Book Group entitled Science of Reading-What I Should Have Learned in College. A parent posed the following question: How can I teach morphology to my 6 year old son in an interesting way? He reads very well and I would like to take him to the next step.

Morphology refers to the study of morphemes, which are the smallest units of meaning in words. For example, the simplest of morphemes is the suffix -s, which can denote: 1-plural or more than one as in bike-bikes, 2-verb inflectional ending signifying present tense as in eat-eats, or 3-possessive adjective with an apostrophe as in boy‘s (singular belonging to 1 boy) or boys’ (plural belonging to more than 1 boy).

I reminded the parent that her child was only 6 years old, and that the best way to start was through oral language with the discussion of word endings as I described in the previous paragraph, as well as introducing the concept that words can have beginnings (prefixes) and endings (suffixes) added to them. And…that many English words have bases or roots, which carry meanings across many words.

I went on to suggest that teaching morphology helps to expand a child’s vocabulary far more than memorizing a list of random words. See the example in the next section.

Following oral discussion, perhaps her child would be able to look at some of the words in print. After all, this child is only 6!

Keep reading to learn some other ways this parent could enhance her child’s appreciation and knowledge of the English language using the English root contained in gratitude (grat), which means to be thankful, pleasing, or favorable.

Teaching Vocabulary and Morphology Using the Concept of Gratitude

Let me share something called a ‘word matrix’, which helps everyone understand how using the English root ‘grat’ (which means “thankful, pleasing, favorable”) can be used to make at least 18 words, all of them related in meaning.

Below, you will find both the word matrix created, as well as the list of words garnered by adding affixes (prefixes and suffixes) to ‘grat’.

Back to Empathy: 7 Tips to Model How to Teach Empathy to Kids

• Discuss Emotions-Teach Emotional Regulation
• Model and Practice Empathy Yourself — Talk About It
• Read Stories and Discuss Empathetic Behavior
• Praise Empathetic Behavior
• Demonstrate Empathy to Kids When They Are Upset
• Create and Use a “Kindness Jar”
• Create an “Empathy Journal” for Older Kids

Popsicle sticks have acts of kindness toward others–students select a stick and practice kindness and empathy regularly.

Here is a link to MANY, MANY books which can help you to teach empathy to children.

P.S. I Teach About Morphology in Calling All Neurons!

Happy Thanksgiving to YOU and YOURS! Be Sure to Talk About and Express Gratitude Today and Always!

Make this veggie tray with/for your kids! They will LOVE it!