This lesson, inspired by social media "challenges" and Project 365[1], encourages students to explore many areas of their lives in which they see and/or experience gratitude.
Learning Outcomes
Students will define gratitude, identify what they are grateful for and express gratitude visually.
Materials Required
- photos require access to cameras or phones
- art projects can be done in any medium, for example drawing, painting, collage
Teaching and Learning Activities
- ACTIVATE THINKING: Co-create a class definition of gratitude by finishing the sentence stem; "Gratitude is...."
- This can be done as a large group or with a partner or individually.
- If using computers or tablets/iPads, students can search a variety of sources for definitions.
- Share student findings with the class and come to a consensus on the top 3 or 4 words that are most popular or common.
- According to the world's leading gratitude researcher Robert Emmons[2], Gratitude is an affirmation of goodness where we affirm that there are good things in the world.)
2. Ask students "What are you grateful for?" Make a classroom list of their answers.
3. Use the following categories to inspire student's creative interpretation of what they are grateful for.
- health
- bodies
- can’t live without
- something new
- neighbourhood
- season
- basic needs
- transportation
- family
- favourite food
- smile
- books
- something funny
- nature
- something old
- animals
- memories
- friends
- what brings joy
- emotions
- tradition
- culture
- music
- diversity
- beauty
- laughter
- love
- kindness
- where you sleep
- self-portrait
4. Introduce the project as an activity to create and/gather images (photos, art, words and phrases) that depict what they are grateful for within a category that they choose.
5. Create time and space for students to share their work.
Adaptations
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Begin the session with Gratitude - the video by Louie Schwartzberg.
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Use the list as a 30-day challenge, addressing a new category every day.
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Include discussions on gratitude awareness and expression through all 5 senses. For example: What does gratitude look like? Smell like? Feel like? Taste like? Sound like?
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Have students choose a unique category from the list, with no duplications in the class. When the final products are shared, a wide range of gratitude categories will be covered with varying perspectives.
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Engage multiple classes or the entire school with a gratitude focus.
Follow Up Activities
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Assign a creative writing assignment - journal, short story or essay.
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Present photos/art to other students, parents or the wider community.
- Deepen the connection to gratitude from artistic expression to performing acts and gestures of gratitude at home, school and throughout the community.
This website has over 160,000 members who upload a daily photo. For some it is a way to practice photography, for others it provides a visual chronical of daily life.
Robert Emmons is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis and author of several books on Gratitude.