Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
– Charles Dickens
Our intention with this lesson is to spark an awareness in students that they can choose to view their life through the lens of appreciation, and that this choice can have many positive benefits. In his research, David DeSteno found that people who approach life with gratitude are unique in several ways. They are more adept at navigating difficult circumstances, they have healthier exercise and eating habits, and they have more enduring and positive relationships in their lives. In this lesson, students explore specific gratitude practices that they can use to strengthen their ability to notice the good things in their lives. They will create a photo collage (or drawing) to reflect on the people and things in their life that they appreciate.
· Recognize the connection between gratitude and increased feelings of well-being.
· Learn methods for practicing gratitude and seeing life through a lens of appreciation.
Prior to teaching this lesson, watch the expert video and create your own photo collage that you will share with your students.
Ensure that every student has access to technology that will allow them to create a digital collage using their own photos.
In the case that students do not have access to digital photos, or if you would prefer this to be a tech-free activity, invite students to bring in hard copies of their pictures, and provide scissors, paper, and glue.
Dr. Nina Vasan explains the research behind the benefit of gratitude and shares her own personal daily gratitude practice.
Paige shares how practicing gratitude helps her to slow down and appreciate things during stressful times, and she describes her gratitude practice of art and collage-making.
Roberto shares how gratitude helps with his overall sense of well-being and reads a letter that he wrote about how grateful he is for his grandmother who raised him.
Mia describes writing a letter of gratitude to an important person in her life and recounts the joy she experienced when her mentor responded to the letter.
Nana, a volunteer from Ghana who works with a non-profit organization called From Hearts2Hands, shares the importance of how being in the present can increase a sense of gratitude.
Display the ‘welcome slide’ from the Lesson 12 PowerPoint as you begin.
*Slide 1
As discussed in the teacher training, remember to make the suggested language below authentic to yourself and meaningful for your students.
Example of What You Could Say:
“Today, we are going to look at a specific technique that has been proven through scientific research to help increase feelings of satisfaction and well-being: gratitude. Practicing gratitude helps us to have a lens of appreciation on our lives – noticing the people and things that we feel thankful for. Ideally, we are not just noticing what and who we are grateful for, but also expressing that gratitude to the most important people in our lives.
Let’s watch a short video clip from an expert to learn more about the benefits that gratitude can bring.”
An expert explains the research on the connection between gratitude and feelings of well-being. The expert also gives examples of a few specific practices that people can use to help them learn to appreciate the good things in their life.
Share your photo collage, then invite students to make their own collage by using a free photo editing app, like photocollage.com or Canva.com. Or if you are choosing to have the students create physical collages, go over the materials they have to work with or instruct the students to draw what they’re grateful for.
Example of What You Could Say:
“Like the expert in the video clip suggested, I wanted to try to do something that would help me notice the parts of my life that I appreciate and value. I made a collage to highlight the people and things I feel grateful for in my life. It was actually really nice to stop and think about who I feel most appreciative of, and I added in some photos of things that bring me joy and peace… (Share your photo collage.) Now I want to invite you to make your own photo collage that can illustrate the parts of your own life that you are most appreciative of. You can gather pictures on multiple different platforms, like your photo library, Instagram, Pinterest, unsplash.com, etc. Once you’ve chosen your pictures, you can creatively decide how you want to arrange them in a way that helps you to express who and what you are grateful for. You can also draw what you’re grateful for.”
*Slide 3
Students create a photo collage of the people, places and things that they appreciate in their lives. They can use their own images or they can download free images from the website unsplash.com. Students may also bring in their own photos (to be discussed ahead of time) if you want this to be a tech-free creative exercise, or students can draw what they are grateful for.
Students work on their collage independently for approximately 20 minutes. If you have additional time to devote to this activity, and students are engaged and need more time, you might consider extending this part of the lesson. Circulate the room and support students with any hiccups they run into with the technology. You may want to play music as students work.
Example of What You Could Say:
“I am excited to see your collages! I wonder if anyone wants to share your collage with the class and describe a few of the people or things you decided to include? I also am curious about how it felt to create the collage. Did anyone notice an aspect of your life that you don’t usually pause to appreciate?
(Allow students to share.)
Thank you so much for sharing. You could also take this activity a step further by reaching out to a family member or friend to express your appreciation for them. I hope you enjoyed today’s activity, and I hope you feel inspired to keep practicing gratitude after today, whether that be through a collage like this or through other means like journaling and meditating.”
If you or your students would like to learn more about the ideas in this lesson, additional resources and third party links are included below.