Happy November!
I try to set intentions for each month, and it just feels like November is the perfect month for practicing gratitude. Why?
Well, for one, it’s research-supported: there’s plenty of data supporting the benefits of gratitude on mental health, physical well-being, and relational wellness. There are also cognitive benefits, including an increased focus on the positives in our lives - a way to actively combat the natural negativity bias that we have.
I like to get super granular with my gratitude practice, as well. Sure, we can be grateful for our family, friends, job, physical health - this is all great, but I find the practice to be much more effective when I zoom in much further. What are the tiny details in my life - right now, in the present moment! - that I am thankful for?
Right now, for instance, I’m grateful for the Macbook I’m using to write this blog post. I’m grateful for the warm sweater I’m wearing, the cozy slippers I have on. I’m grateful for this amazing pumpkin spice creamer I have in my coffee, and the soft fall lofi beats I’m listening to.
But what about our teaching life? What are some things we’re grateful for at work? In this blog post, I’m going to share some ways that I am choosing to actively practice gratitude in my classroom this month.
Gratitude Post-Its
Every day, I’m going to take a post-it and number it from 1 to 3. After each class I teach throughout the day, I’m going to write down one thing that went well during that block (I teach 3 80-minute blocks a day). So often, we focus on the things that did not go well - and it makes sense, right? Our minds are primed for snuffing out the negative, and unpleasant experiences tend to be more noticeable than the positive ones…
But I’d like to believe that during every single class that I teach, there’s gotta be at least 1 thing that went well, right? I’m going to be jotting those glimmers down in a methodical, intentional way.
Weekly Gratitude Practice
I’m going to involve my students in a weekly gratitude practice. It might look like a quick, 2-minute “think-pair-share,” or it might be a longer, more involved writing prompt that I’ll have them complete in the target language.
One of the great things about teaching a World Language is that you can do so many different, interesting activities - even if they fall outside the scope of your curriculum - as long you find a way to infuse language and/or culture into it!
Verbal Acknowledgements
One thing that I used to do really well was point out the specific things that I saw my students doing well, and really call attention to them. This has always been a great classroom management practice during transitions, especially.
“Okay, we have 30 seconds to put away our belongings and get ready for the next task. I’m noticing that John’s desk is completely cleared, which I love. I’m noticing Ashley is just about done organizing her materials. Robert is focused and has his eyes on me, ready for my next direction…”
When we verbally acknowledge what’s going right in our room, we do two things:
It makes our students feel good about themselves. Some of our students don’t receive much praise, so pointing out things that we see them doing well may, in fact, be the first positive thing they’ve heard from an adult all week. Don’t discount the magnitude of your words!
We may be able to spot 20 things that are not going so great in our class right now, but by focusing on what’s going well, we help our brains to make a more neutral, less negatively-biased assessment of what’s actually happening… and when students hear you calling out the things that you like and appreciate, they’re much more likely to change their behavior to align to those standards.
Team Meeting Gratitude Moments
I don’t know about you, but during my team meetings, there isn’t much structure. We all basically arrive to the meeting and sort of share what’s been going on - mostly what’s been frustrating us! - and maybe share some resources or teaching ideas.
Whenever I’m feeling particularly inspired, I introduce a new practice or routine to our meetings. After I finish typing up this post, I’m going to send the following email to my World Language colleagues: “Hey everyone, since it’s November, I thought we could be intentional about practicing gratitude for the first five minutes of our team meetings this month. Please come to our meeting on Monday with 1-2 things you are grateful for! Looking forward to it.”
Celebrate small victories
This could be a weekly practice. What’s one area in my teaching that was a smashing success this week? Like, be arrogant and self-congratulatory here.
“My lesson on direct object pronouns was perfectly paced this year.”
“When I told that story using comprehension-based techniques, I could tell my students understood at least 80% of the target language input I provided. Formative assessment data was strong!”
“I received a rating of Highly Effective in most domains on my teacher observation. Nice!”
Realistically, none of these small victories is incredibly impressive, right? But if we go through our day-to-day teaching lives without acknowledging the small wins, our jobs can feel really bleak.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t really have many students who will stop at the end of class and say, “This was a really great lesson today. Thank you.” They’re so wrapped-up in their own lives (which is developmentally appropriate, by the way), that stopping and saying “Thank you” to their World Language teacher just isn’t really on their radar. So, at times, this can feel like a thankless profession, which is why we need to do a little extra heavy lifting and force ourselves to spot the glimmers in our week.
Ask for positive feedback
I’m going to give my students an Exit Ticket (at least once this month) where I ask them a simple question: What was your favorite part of today’s lesson?
When you direct students to think about the things they enjoyed, they’ll often be able to share that with you - and you might even be surprised by what they come up with. Sharing what they liked about school is not a really cool thing to do, though, so this isn’t something I’d ask students to volunteer out loud. But for an exit ticket where they get to share something positive and know that only their teacher will read it? Yeah, that works for them.
I’m gonna do this for a few reasons. First, selfishly, I want to feel good about my teaching! I want to hear what worked well so that I can be grateful for those elements of my teaching practice.
Second, I want to see what students are responding well to - are there any overarching patterns in their responses? If so, I can plan to do more of the things they enjoy.
Third, I want my students - who are just as susceptible to the negativity bias as we adults are - to get into the habit of looking for positives.
I once had to take a Statistics course that was absolutely miserable. The professor was boring, the slides were as bare as could be, there weren’t concrete examples to help illustrate concepts… it was a torturous experience through and through. And yet, I bet my experience wouldn’t have been as awful if I had taken the time to shine some light on the glimmers, however faint they might have been.
As we move through November, I hope you’ll consider weaving a few of these gratitude practices into your own classroom routine.
Small shifts in awareness can help us reconnect with the parts of teaching that feel meaningful and energizing.
Even on the busiest days, there are bright spots worth noticing and celebrating. The more intentionally we look for them, the more naturally they begin to show up.
Here’s to a month filled with warmth, reflection, and tiny moments of gratitude that make our work feel a little lighter.
Happy language teaching,
~ Michael
