Teaching Students Gratitude

I splurged last Christmas and got my students three gifts. One was free—a collection of about twelve different kinds of seashells and a shell identification guide. I collected those all myself during a rare vacation weekend to Florida in November. The second was a $3.50 laminated colored map of the world, which they all loved and many taped to the tops of their desks–with permission, of course. The third was my splurge. I bought each one of them a hardcover Merriam-Webster combination dictionary and thesaurus. I carefully placed one on each student’s desk and wrote “To _____ from Mrs. Swanson, 2024” on the inside front cover.

I got one thank you note from a very sweet student who obviously was grateful. The student even informed me that it had already been useful. But, I had another student who walked up to me at the end of the day, with the brand-new hardcover book in hand, asking, “Do you want this?”

Aghast but with a smile, I replied, “I bought that just for you.”

“I won’t really use it,” was the answer. Imagine a junior high student not needing a dictionary.

I figured it wasn’t the time for a lecture as I didn’t want that to be the student’s last memory of me for 2024, but it really hurt my feelings.

G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Thanks are the highest form of thought; and gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” That is so incredibly true. My brightest students are the ones who are grateful and appreciative. And the ones who are often more difficult to deal with are the least thankful. I’m rarely content with a situation that I know can and should be improved, so I began to ponder: What can we as teachers do to teach our students gratitude? Here are a few of my suggestions.

1. Model thankfulness yourself. In morning prayers, thank God for your church, school building, parents, and supporting churches. Show gratitude for the mothers bringing in a hot lunch or a snack.
2. Teach it! Have the students write thank you notes to places you visit on field trips, or to the pastor of the church for letting your school rent their basement. Sing at nursing homes, rake leaves for widows, and donate coins to a Christian Aid Ministries project. Give the students opportunities to experience what it feels like to be unselfish and to think of others.
3. Gently point out wrongs. We had a friendly discussion about what returning a gift communicates to the giver, and what it reveals about the receiver as well. Obviously, students either have not been taught or have not internalized these concepts, so use these times as opportunities for short discussions and lessons on gratitude.
4. Don’t take selfishness or thoughtlessness personally. It is usually more a reflection on their ages and lack of experience. Use these moments for gentle correction, and point them in the way they should go.

Sometimes teaching involves a little more parenting, and this would be one of those situations. Also, be thankful yourself, as you have the privilege to be involved in the art of teaching, assisting parents and the church in the all-important work of training up godly men and women for the church of tomorrow. That’s a noble thing to be doing.

Photo by Alexas_Fotos on Unsplash