Thankfulness part 1

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I can't believe I didn't lost about everything I'm thankful for. In my book, it's never, ever too late to talk about thankfulness.

A little detail about the school that I work at is that 70% of our 1400 students receive free or reduced lunch. This is a fairly sizable percentage compared to other Maryland schools, and I must say, we are extremely fortunate as federal and state grants offer every single student absolutely free breakfast in the morning and most students a free packed dinner to take home at the end of the day. We work very hard with our students to teach them all the ways they can rise above poverty and the mentality that comes with it. We do this through a myriad of activities, programs, and classes. We are extremely student centered and offer so many opportunities for skill building throughout the regular school week.

One thing, this time of year especially, I like to talk about with my 10th graders is the ability to be thankful when it doesn't seem like there is much to be thankful for. On Wednesday, before we released for break, I assigned a small project to my students to complete within class time. They had to choose between 3 of 6 tasks to choose, all of which had to do with Thanksgiving and being thankful. The first and fifth task were my absolute favorites though. Those are what I want to share with you now!

Task 1:

Document 2 or 3 sentences about each of the following:

-someone outside of school whom you are thankful for.

-someone inside of school whom you are thankful for.

-a personal item you are thankful for.

-something silly you're thankful for.

My answers:

1) I am most thankful for my mother and her sisters outside of school. I can always call these women when I need guidance, an ear to listen to me, or general advice. They are a great source of wisdom and strength for me.

2) I am very thankful for a former student, who is now a senior, Briana. This sounds very silly, but I taught Bri when she was just a freshman and have had the opportunity to watch her grow up over the last four years and mature into an incredible young woman. We do not always see eye to eye, but we converse almost daily, and I really treasure that time. It keeps me focused on how powerful relationships are between teachers and students.

3) A personal item that I am thankful for are the crochet hooks that I inherited from my grandmother. Each time I use them, I feel a little connection with her and think of all the times we sat in her house and back yard crocheting and crafting.

4) Hmm...something silly I'm thankful for? Probably Cory's Jetta. Cory does most of the driving in our relationship. I'm not against driving, but I don't really like to do it. Cory's Jetta has gotten us home in horrible snow storms, to the hospital to visit baby Sloane after she was born in February's blizzard conditions, and all around has just gotten me from point A to point B very very safe. For that, I am thankful.

I'll be back with Task 5 tomorrow :)

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