Marcia Thornton Jones's Blog, page 69

How to Teach Gratitude (Hint - it's Hard and Takes a Lifetime)

If there's one thing I would love for my own children to understand, it's gratitude. I may not use the word a lot, but I want them to feel it, to express it, to understand how fortunate they are. As important as gratitude is, it's one of the most difficult things to teach. It seems to be one of those things that people grow to understand more thoroughly after they have experienced hardship.

To be honest, looking back, I don't think I was a particularly grateful child. Did I feel grateful to my parents for those camping trips? The flights or drives down to Seattle to see grandparents? Did I feel gratitude for the roof over my head? The food in my belly? The clothes, education, sports opportunities? No. I thought they were my due simply for being who I was - a middle-class kid in America. And trust me, I didn't even think that deeply about it at the time. It's only in retrospect that I can see how fortunate I was. 

My students are no different. I teach at a school where the majority of kids are middle class or higher, financially. Having enough isn't the only key to happiness, but it sure helps. These are kids who, for the most part, have never had to worry about where they would sleep at night, or whether there would be enough food to eat. I really believe that the experience of Covid has done much to instill a sense of gratitude in kids who may not have felt a lot of it before. They are grateful to be at school. Grateful to see their friends. The experience is different than it used to be, but after ten months at home, they were just so darned happy to be there. They are learning gratitude for simple things. 

And I feel the same. I definitely took my job for granted. Now, not only am I happy to just have a job, when so many have lost theirs, but I realize how fortunate I am to have a job that I love. I am happy to see my students every day. My role has changed, at least temporarily, but I am still helping kids to love books, and getting those books into their hands. Imagine the joy and gratitude I will feel when I'm able to begin welcoming classes back into the library for regular lessons and check-out time!

The image I'm sharing in my post today is one I took while out on a lunchtime walk at the school last fall. A child had pinned this simple image of hope to a power pole. I for one, am grateful for it. Our students have as much to teach us about gratitude as we have to teach them. I'm ready to learn.

What this year has taught me by Jennifer Mitchell

A year ago when it felt like the world was turned upside down, I went from being a classroom teacher one week, to designing and posting lessons for students to access virtually the next. I was worried about my students falling behind and not having the support they needed to be successful learners. I wrote letters to my students and did my best to communicate, but it felt very disconnected to say the least.

This past fall we were one of the first districts in the Kansas City area to open our school for in-person learning. It made me realize how important it is to be face to face with kids to make connections. I have felt very grateful this year to be back doing what I love in the setting that I feel I am most successful. In the future, I won’t take being able to teach from the traditional classroom setting for granted.  

During the first few months of quarantine I was lucky to spend time at home with my family.  Things didn’t work out the way they had intended, being sent back from college, and having the end of a senior year come to an abrupt halt.  But I can say that we were all blessed to be able to spend time together, and thankful no one got sick.  Though it was odd to be spending more time at home, it provided me the opportunity to try some new hobbies.  My daughter and I decided to try our hand at needle point (and had a great time learning it together).  This is something we would have never taken the time to do in the past, as there would have been more pressing things that needed to be “done.” I have such gratitude that 2020 afforded me that extra time to spend with my family.  

It’s been hard not being able to be with extended family and celebrate holidays and occasions 

as normal.  Once we are able to safely be with each other I will cherish those moments more than I did in the past.  Even though 2020 was difficult in ways, it really helped me prioritize family.

A World of Gratitude by Darlene Beck Jacobson

GRATITUDE:

I try to begin each day with a walk before breakfast. A chance for a quiet start, a conversation with God, and a moment to acknowledge the things I am grateful for.

Today the things I am grateful for come with photos.

Persistence and determination: No matter how difficult something might be, you will get there.

There is peace and beauty everywhere. Look up instead of straight ahead.

A sense of wonder. Be patient and something new and fresh will reveal itself.

A place to rest. To observe. To listen. To feel the blue and taste the air. 

A world with so many things to inspire, and so much to be grateful for.

The Same-Old, Same-Old? Yes, Thanks

 by Jody Feldman

Every weekday morning, weather permitting, I take the same sidewalks and paths for a two- to three-mile walk/run. Let me repeat, not about my pace, not about the distance, but about it being the SAME. It’s so easy to take for granted the same trees and houses, electric lines and cracks in the pavement. It’s so easy to pass everything without seeing. It’s so easy to get this part of my day over with so I can get to work. That’s why I make it a habit to start the first few blocks of my time focusing on the changing foliage, the drifting clouds (or lack thereof), the chattering birds, the humming insects. If I don’t, I’ll get stuck inside my head for the entire 30-40 minutes.
Now, inside my head is exactly where I want to be in those moments. It’s my time to brainstorm and ponder about whatever I’m currently writing. Before I step foot outside or even before I get out of bed, I make a mental list of the writing challenges – as in plot or character, backstory or dialogue, stakes or theme or all the other issues – I need to address that day. But instead of tackling that list with the first step out my front door, I use several minutes to breathe and notice.
I’ve found there’s magic in that. When I ground myself in my surroundings then let creative thoughts emerge organically, they come stronger, with more creativity and clarity, when they're ready.
I’ve tried taking alternate routes. I’ve considered walking with friends who've asked, but the distraction of different sights and sounds and smells impedes my process. And so, I do essentially the same thing every day.
Yes, I love newness, novelty, exploring the unknown. Yet, every day, I am grateful for the unique role that sameness plays in allowing me to spend uninterrupted, uninhibited morning moments with my head in the sky.

Gratitude

Gratitude

Debbie Poslosky

The words of ‘Gratitude” and “Grateful” have certainly become more sharp and meaningful during this past year of Covid.  Being in treatment for lung cancer has been even more terrifying because of the way Covid attacks the lungs.  Self-isolation was done immediately to lower my risk, but my friends and family also would not take a chance seeing me for a very long time. For many months of the pandemic I was feeling so well, yet not being able to enjoy my life and the people in it was difficult.  Not seeing or touching my grandchildren or children, and not meeting with friends for so long has certainly been a lesson to be learned!  During some of those hardest days, I practiced a strategy I used to teach my students and my own kids and grandkids.  Picture a light switch on the wall.  The room is dark.  If you “flip the switch” the light comes on.  Each time!  When we use that metaphor with our thoughts, with a little practice it really works!  So I practiced “flipping the switch” each time those lonely, negative thoughts would make their way into my brain.  And when I flipped it, it forced me to think of what was good and right about the situation, and not what was dark and depressing.  

For example: My thought: If I get this, I won’t recover from it. FLIP THE SWITCH and Today I am grateful

I am not sick. I am careful and I will get through this.My thought: I haven’t seen my grandkids or friends for a year of my life! FLIP THE SWITCH and

Today I am grateful that all of us are safe, we love each other, and we

have technology available to be able to see each other and be

connected.

And on and on...you get the idea.  As for gratitude...wow, that has taken

on more intentional recognition.  I have gratitude for the smallest things

such as the beautiful sky, the fresh air, feeling the sun on my face... 

My gratitude for other things has only increased this past year. 

I have gratitude for my home and knowing I am safe.  I have gratitude

for being able to wake up and use my body to do what I would like it

to do-mostly!  I have gratitude that just one of my family members got

Covid but recovered at home, and most of my friends have been

been safe from Covid.I have gratitude that my brain is working pretty

well these days, and all my senses work and are more sharp. 

I have gratitude for living with a man for almost 43 years who still

can make me laugh and loves me like no other human on the earth. 

When I am able to think this way, there is hope and faith in my heart that

the world is truly going to get back to a newer normal that will be better

for all of us.

GratitudeDebbie PosloskyThe words of ‘Gratitude” and “Gra...

Gratitude

Debbie Poslosky

The words of ‘Gratitude” and “Grateful” have certainly become more sharp and meaningful during this past year of Covid.  Being in treatment for lung cancer has been even more terrifying because of the way Covid attacks the lungs.  Self-isolation was done immediately to lower my risk, but my friends and family also would not take a chance seeing me for a very long time. For many months of the pandemic I was feeling so well, yet not being able to enjoy my life and the people in it was difficult.  Not seeing or touching my grandchildren or children, and not meeting with friends for so long has certainly been a lesson to be learned!  During some of those hardest days, I practiced a strategy I used to teach my students and my own kids and grandkids.  Picture a light switch on the wall.  The room is dark.  If you “flip the switch” the light comes on.  Each time!  When we use that metaphor with our thoughts, with a little practice it really works!  So I practiced “flipping the switch” each time those lonely, negative thoughts would make their way into my brain.  And when I flipped it, it forced me to think of what was good and right about the situation, and not what was dark and depressing.  

For example: My thought: If I get this, I won’t recover from it. FLIP THE SWITCH and Today I am grateful

I am not sick. I am careful and I will get through this.My thought: I haven’t seen my grandkids or friends for a year of my life! FLIP THE SWITCH and

Today I am grateful that all of us are safe, we love each other, and we

have technology available to be able to see each other and be

connected.

And on and on...you get the idea.  As for gratitude...wow, that has taken

on more intentional recognition.  I have gratitude for the smallest things

such as the beautiful sky, the fresh air, feeling the sun on my face... 

My gratitude for other things has only increased this past year. 

I have gratitude for my home and knowing I am safe.  I have gratitude

for being able to wake up and use my body to do what I would like it

to do-mostly!  I have gratitude that just one of my family members got

Covid but recovered at home, and most of my friends have been

been safe from Covid.I have gratitude that my brain is working pretty

well these days, and all my senses work and are more sharp. 

I have gratitude for living with a man for almost 43 years who still

can make me laugh and loves me like no other human on the earth. 

When I am able to think this way, there is hope and faith in my heart that

the world is truly going to get back to a newer normal that will be better

for all of us.

Grateful For Something We Cannot See -- by Jane Kelley

Thank you thank you thank you, I said to the man who found my new iPhone in the grocery store parking lot. I'm extremely grateful that he was kind and honest and had good enough eye sight to spot a black phone on black pavement on a dark night. 

But this post isn't about him or any other kindnesses I've experienced in my life. I decided to write about benefits we take for granted. Oxygen in our atmosphere, water, moderate temperatures (well, most of the time). They're all miracles in their own right. But none of them would be here if it weren't for one thing.

The earth's magnetic field. The motion of the metal in the earth's core creates a magnetic charge that spreads from north pole to south pole and back again.

Illustration by Michael Osadciw University of Rochester

 

As you can see from the illustration, the magnetic field protects us from the solar wind--super charged particles that spiral off our sun and blast out at speeds up to ONE MILLION MILES PER HOUR. 

If you wonder what Earth would be like without that magnetic field, just look at our neighbor Mars. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have lots of evidence that there was once water there. The robot explorer Perseverance may find definitive proof that Mars once had life. But now it's dead and red while the Earth teems with plants and animals. Mars doesn't have a magnetic field like ours to protect it. As a result, most of Mars's atmosphere got blown away. What's left is only 1% the volume of ours. 

So we owe EVERYTHING to what looks like something a cartoon superhero would create by flying around the Earth and leaving a trail of ions. 

Which brings me back to being grateful for what we have.

What part of your core are you using to create a protective shield?

What is your invisible strength?

How can you make sure to keep it so that you can continue to create and sustain life?

As writers, it's important to pay attention to everything, whether it's an invisible protective force that saves the planet or where you put your iPhone.

Setting in a Story

 

As I continue to learn about writing and story structure in my classes at MSU, I’m amazed at how often I’ve taken the setting in a story for granted. I’ve been tasked with assignments that asked me to write scenes in which the setting affects the character and it has changed my outlook on its importance. Before now, setting has always been something of an afterthought for me. I put my focus into character and storyline, relying on dialogue and plot points to carry the story. What I understand now is that setting can be just as much of a character as the protagonist. A dark forest and a sunny beach are tonally different. Each might allow the theme of the story to change in fundamental ways or cause the protagonist to feel completely different emotions. I’ve read that sometimes if you’re facing writers block or having trouble finishing a scene you should change the weather. Oftentimes it can become a plot point of its own, forcing the protagonist's hand. If it’s storming, a protagonist might run for the nearest source of cover and suddenly the story is up and running again. From here out I’ll be sure to treat the setting with the same importance as character and plot. It’s hard to imagine stories like Harry Potter or Anne of Green Gables set anywhere else but Hogwarts and Prince Edward Island.

Gratitude, Gratitude... and a D-39 Book Trailer!

Gratitude. It's what gets me through the tough times. In DICTIONARY FOR A BETTER WORLD: Poems, Quotes and Anecdotes from A to Z, written by myself and Charles Waters, illustrations by Mehrdokht Amini, on the “gratitude” entry, we suggest, readers make a gratitude list.

My gratitude list today:

daffodils in the ditch

#lakelife

the fact that virtual visits allow me to connect with readers, but don't require (stressful) travel

.....

I'm also grateful to have my new novel coming in May! It's a middle grade dystopian verse novel called D-39: A ROBODOG'S JOURNEY.

 All that not-traveling time allowed me to play around with imovie and create—from all FREE video/photo/sound sources on the web!—a book trailer for my new book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it. 💗

----

Irene Latham is a grateful creator of many novels, poetry collections, and picture books, including the coauthored Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship, which earned a Charlotte Huck Honor, and The Cat Man of Aleppo, which won a Caldecott Honor. Irene lives on a lake in rural Alabama.

Ten Things I'm Grateful for Right Now

 

Ten Things I’m Grateful for Right Now

 

Sometimes over the past year it’s been difficult to feel grateful. The world seems overwhelming. Terrifying. Merciless. Half a million people  dying from Covid in this country alone. Political turmoil culminating in an armed insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, a building where I spent many years working, first as an intern and then as a journalist. A narcissistic (now-ex) president fanning the flames of hatred.

 

But of course there are things that offer comfort. Security blankets I can wrap around myself when I’m worried about family health issues, or work-related problems, or the vast problems facing our world.

 

So here’s a countdown…

 

10. Journalism. Over the past few years, and especially during the pandemic, journalists in this country have investigated, explored, and produced numerous eye-opening stories—while being attacked as “enemies of the people.”

 

9. New administration. A huge sigh of relief.

 

8. Vaccinations. Some people I know have already received them, and while I’m aware that my turn won’t come for a while, I’m feeling more hopeful.

 

7. The medical profession. I am so grateful to everyone in this field, for so many reasons.

 

6. My book blog. Turning to more self-oriented things, my blog has kept me going professionally over the past year, as I’ve found it difficult to focus on my writing. Interviewing other authors about their books has been an inspiration.

 

5. Baby Yoda. A great quarantine companion!

 

 

4. My fictional characters. Even though it’s been hard to write, I still think about them a lot and hope they make their way onto the page soon!

 

3. Book groups. I’m in three book groups right now, and the companionship and discussions have been vital over the past year.

 

2. Friends and neighbors. Having wonderful friends and neighbors is an amazing thing.

1.   Family. What can I say? You’re the best. Thank you all! 

--Deborah Kalb

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