Wings of Gratitude: Teaching Students the Art of Appreciation
Gratitude serves as an essential force in the educational milieu, acting as the warm air that elevates both students and educators alike. In this discourse, Mr. Funky Teacher, Nicholas Kleve, articulates the profound significance of teaching students the art of appreciation, thereby fostering resilience, joy, and a sense of connection within the classroom. He elucidates practical methodologies for modeling gratitude, emphasizing the necessity of demonstrating appreciation in order to cultivate a positive school culture. By integrating intentional gratitude practices into daily routines, educators can empower students to discover their own sources of uplift, ultimately enhancing their social-emotional learning. This episode underscores the imperative of embedding gratitude within the educational experience, as it not only enriches individual growth but also fortifies the communal fabric of the learning environment.
The essence of gratitude as a transformative educational tool is thoroughly examined in this engaging podcast episode featuring Mr. Funky Teacher, Nicholas Kleve. By likening the act of gratitude to the thermals that support an eagle's flight, Kleve elucidates how gratitude acts as an uplifting force that can significantly alter the dynamics within the classroom. This discourse emphasizes that gratitude is not merely a passive sentiment but an active practice that educators must model consistently to instill its importance in their students.
Throughout the episode, Kleve outlines specific strategies for embedding gratitude into the fabric of the school culture. He advocates for initiatives that encourage students to express appreciation for their community, such as gratitude walls and reflective exit tickets. These methods not only promote social-emotional learning but also reinforce the significance of kindness and connection among students. Kleve's insights underscore that by normalizing gratitude, educators can create an environment where students feel valued and recognized, ultimately enhancing their educational experience and emotional well-being. The episode concludes with a powerful reminder that gratitude is essential for not only individual fulfillment but also for fostering a collaborative and supportive learning atmosphere.
Takeaways:
- Gratitude serves as the essential thermal lift that enables both teachers and students to soar above challenges and obstacles.
- Modeling gratitude within the classroom environment cultivates a culture of appreciation and emotional intelligence among students.
- By integrating gratitude-focused activities such as Thankful Thursday, educators can foster stronger connections among students and staff.
- Teachers should actively seek ways to express gratitude, thereby encouraging students to develop their own practices of appreciation.
- Gratitude allows individuals to navigate turbulence and adversity, transforming challenges into opportunities for growth and learning.
- Implementing small acts of kindness can create a ripple effect, enhancing the overall positive atmosphere within the school community.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Be a Funky Teacher
Transcript
Yeah, he's Mr. Funky.
Speaker A:He's Mr. Funky Teacher.
Speaker A:Mr. Funky Teacher inspires greatness, makes you feel good.
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Speaker A:He can empower others, students and teachers.
Speaker A:It's all about hard work and creativity.
Speaker A:He brings out the kindness in everyone.
Speaker A:He's got the passion to teach.
Speaker A:You hear it when he speaks.
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Speaker A:If you're seeking the best bunkiest, he is it.
Speaker A:He will empower you to improve.
Speaker A:You'll be helping others and loving it too.
Speaker A:He's Mr. Funky Teacher.
Speaker A:Yeah, he's Mr. Funky Teacher.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:This is Mr. Funky Teacher with Be a Funky Teacher dot com.
Speaker B:I'm coming to you with another Be a Funky Teacher podcast.
Speaker B:Welcome back, everyone, to today's episode is Wings of Gratitude.
Speaker B:Teaching students the art of appreciation.
Speaker B:But before we get into it, I'd like to talk about three things that I am thankful for.
Speaker B:First thing I'm thankful for is time with my family.
Speaker B:I'm so thankful for those moments at home when the world slows down.
Speaker B:Talking around the kitchen table, sitting around the living room, laughing about something small or, or just sitting in the same room can just bring such joy.
Speaker B:And you know, teaching takes so much outward energy and family time I think helps give give that energy back.
Speaker B:Those moments like this remind me that connection, not perfection, is really what fills us up.
Speaker B:Second thing I'm thankful for.
Speaker B:I'm thankful for celebrating my wife's birthday.
Speaker B:We were celebrating last night my wife's birthday a little bit early.
Speaker B:Tonight's going to be a little bit chaotic.
Speaker B:So we were celebrating a little early and I'm just grateful we got to celebrate her birthday.
Speaker B:Taking, taking some time to honor her reminds me of how much stability and encouragement she brings in.
Speaker B:Everything I do, it's.
Speaker B:It can actually be easy to overlook the people who quietly cheer us on, but pausing to celebrate them, for me, I think it helps renew my perspective.
Speaker B:Because she is a partner, she's a teammate.
Speaker B:I'm just so thankful for an opportunity to celebrate her birthday.
Speaker B:Last thing I'm thankful for, light up pumpkins.
Speaker B:I'm thankful for the little plastic glow of light up plastic pumpkins.
Speaker B:They aren't.
Speaker B:There's nothing complicated or flashy about them, but they could transform an ordinary evening into something warm and welcoming.
Speaker B:We have some plastic pumpkins on the outside of our house, hooked to our lights.
Speaker B:You know, they're for me, they're a symbol of even Small sparks like, small sparks like being like kind words or brief smiles or little check ins.
Speaker B:They can light dark spaces in, in schools too.
Speaker B:So just little things can be a big thing.
Speaker B:I love seeing those pumpkins on the outside of our house.
Speaker B:All right, so let's get into the.
Speaker B:The main topic, which is wings of gratitude, teaching students the art of appreciation.
Speaker B:I do want to set up, set the stage here.
Speaker B:Two episodes ago, we talked about the eagle and the crow and how the crow pecks at the eagle's.
Speaker B:At the eagle's back and how the eagle simply rises higher until the crow falls away.
Speaker B:Now that was about choosing altitude over argument, right?
Speaker B:And in our last episode, we explored flying together.
Speaker B:How eagles, sometimes they share space and actually they can even.
Speaker B:I didn't get into this too much, but they can share air currents and, and I think about how teachers can rise higher when they lift colleagues and students along the way.
Speaker B:And so sharing, share like flying together and specifically talking now, sharing that air current together.
Speaker B:Teachers will rise together and be able.
Speaker B:And when we lift each other up, we're going to be able to support students even that much more.
Speaker B:Today, specifically, we are talking about what actually keeps those wings in the air.
Speaker B:Now, eagles, they don't climb by sheer muscle.
Speaker B:They actually find thermals.
Speaker B:It's kind of interesting.
Speaker B:Like columns of warm air that rise from the earth when, when they open their wings, the air itself carries them upward.
Speaker B:So if th.
Speaker B:Thinking about the last two episodes we looked at two episodes ago, leaving the crow behind and then the last episode about lifting others, you know, this one's about what gives you lift in the first place.
Speaker B:That's what I want to get into in this episode.
Speaker B:And then what is that lift those warm currents that keep you aloft?
Speaker B:It's gratitude, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:It's gratitude.
Speaker B:And so that's the big first big idea I want to talk about here, is that gratitude creates your lift.
Speaker B:Now, teachers, they flap hard, we hustle, we plan, we fix, we grade, and still sometimes feel stuck at ground level.
Speaker B:Gratitude can changes the air we're flying in, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:It does.
Speaker B:Every time you stop and say that class discussion went well, or, you know, I'm thankful, I'm thankful for a colleague who had my back.
Speaker B:You catch a warm current just like an eagle catches a warm current.
Speaker B:The day might still be busy, but now you're gliding instead of grinding like the eagle, you're using the air already around you rather than burning yourself out fighting the wind and the crows.
Speaker B:Think about it.
Speaker B:The frustrations we experience the comparisons, the negativity.
Speaker B:Of course they can't survive in that altitude.
Speaker B:Second, big idea, y', all is to model gratitude so students find their own thermals that upward that, that lift gratitude.
Speaker B:You see, gratitude can't just be told.
Speaker B:It has to be shown.
Speaker B:When students hear you say thank you to the custodian or thank you to the lunch crew or thank you to another teacher, they were modeling what appreciation sounds like.
Speaker B:Those little practices can really help now.
Speaker B:Maybe you want to do things in your classroom like, like, like Thankful Thursday share circles where maybe students say somebody's name and they share what they're thankful for or what they appreciate about a fellow classmate or someone in the building.
Speaker B:Or maybe a gratitude wall with sticky notes where students can write kind words to peers or staff.
Speaker B:This is one that I really have considered bringing in.
Speaker B:I've seen different places and seen on social media where sometimes people will take post it notes and put little like a kind gratitude post it note on someone's locker.
Speaker B:And I have lockers in my classroom and this would be an easy thing to do where we could share words of gratitude with each other.
Speaker B:That's almost like a gratitude wall, per se.
Speaker B:So that's something I, I think I'm going to be bringing in that I wanted to share with all of you.
Speaker B:Maybe do an exit ticket with students where talk about like, what's one thing I appreciate today?
Speaker B:You know, where students have to say what's one thing I appreciate today?
Speaker B:Or I one thing I appreciated today.
Speaker B:You know, these moments, they don't take class time away.
Speaker B:They give it meaning, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:They do.
Speaker B:You're teaching emotional intelligence and building a culture where gratitude becomes the default reaction, not the exception.
Speaker B:So now the, the third big idea I want to talk about is turning gratitude into action.
Speaker B:Rising together.
Speaker B:Now remember from last episode, when one eagle finds.
Speaker B:When one eagle is rising and eagles start working together, they can help rise each other.
Speaker B:Now how they do that is one eagle can find a strong updraft.
Speaker B:It's that warm air updraft.
Speaker B:And then others can join in too.
Speaker B:And I don't know if I went as in depth in on the last episode.
Speaker B:I was kind of researching that a little bit more about like what's going on there.
Speaker B:And I was kind of talking about how eagles, they, they can rise together and, and, and rise above.
Speaker B:But I didn't necessarily get into the strong updraft and how others join in because with tying into the current.
Speaker B:But I guess I'm talking about it a little bit more now.
Speaker B:In depth.
Speaker B:I, I don't know if I explained it as well as I had wanted to.
Speaker B:However, I did talk about how working together and working as a team and like flying, like how eagles can.
Speaker B:Can fly together.
Speaker B:So just, just think about this though.
Speaker B:When, when one eagle finds a strong updraft, that warm updraft of air current, others can join in the same current.
Speaker B:Now, gratitude works the same way.
Speaker B:It spreads through.
Speaker B:Through actions, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:It does.
Speaker B:I want to.
Speaker B:You need to think about, hey, let's.
Speaker B:Let's challenge students to do something with their thankfulness.
Speaker B:Maybe they can write a quick note to a staff member or help a classmate quietly without being asked, or compliment someone's effort in front of the group.
Speaker B:Doing things like this, these small acts of appreciation, they.
Speaker B:They absolutely can ripple outward and it can change how a classroom feels.
Speaker B:Now, when we think about the result, you can get a community that, that a classroom community that, that lives together instead of competing for altitude.
Speaker B:It's not about competing for altitude.
Speaker B:It's lifting together.
Speaker B:And when teachers join in sending a.
Speaker B:A thank you email or leaving a.
Speaker B:A sticky note on a peer's desk, the whole building begins to.
Speaker B:To ride that same warm air current, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:And that's where some.
Speaker B:That's where some powerful movement can happen.
Speaker B:Now, let's talk about another big idea.
Speaker B:Gratitude during turbulence.
Speaker B:Now, thermals aren't smooth.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They could.
Speaker B:Now, if you've ever been in an airplane, you know that some, with these air currents, you can sometimes have planes kind of like bouncing around sometimes as they're kind of, you know, the air currents.
Speaker B:Thermals aren't smooth.
Speaker B:They can wobble and toss the eagle a bit.
Speaker B:Isn't that real life?
Speaker B:That's real life in schools.
Speaker B:Surprise observations, technology failures, tough parent meetings.
Speaker B:Gratitude doesn't cancel the chaos, but it stabilizes your wings in rough air.
Speaker B:I encourage you to try this mental shift instead of that lesson bombed.
Speaker B:Say something like, hey, I'm thankful I learned how to adjust it for the next time.
Speaker B:Or instead of, hey, today was exhausting, try.
Speaker B:I'm thankful for one laugh that kept me going that I had this afternoon with a teaching partner.
Speaker B:You know, those re.
Speaker B:Reframing our thinking is so critically important.
Speaker B:Those reframes, they don't sugarcoat reality.
Speaker B:They simply remind us that warmth still exists inside the storm.
Speaker B:See, the eagle doesn't fear turbulence.
Speaker B:It uses it to climb even higher.
Speaker B:And we can too.
Speaker B:So some reflective takeaways here.
Speaker B:Two episodes ago, we looked at Rising above the Crow.
Speaker B:Last episode, we looked at how to lift others as we fly.
Speaker B:And today's episode is about the air itself, those on the unseen force of gratitude that makes flight possible.
Speaker B:Y', all, gratitude is your thermal.
Speaker B:It keeps you steady, it gives you height and it makes the journey smoother.
Speaker B:So the bottom line, when you teach and you live with gratitude, you create the warmth that lifts you, lifts your students and your colleagues higher than effort alone ever could.
Speaker B:Now, I hope you found value in this episode.
Speaker B:As we bring this to a close, I want to encourage you to jump on over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcast shows and hit me up with a five star review and let me know what you think.
Speaker B:Now I want you to go into your day and remember to inspire greatness in young people and don't forget to be a funky teacher.
Speaker B:Bye now.
Speaker A:He's Mr. Funky Teacher, yeah.
Speaker A:He's Mr. Funky Teacher, yeah.
