As the holiday season rolls around one more time 性视界传媒 and it seems to happen faster every year 性视界传媒 we kick it off with the celebration of Thanksgiving.
I性视界传媒檓 going to avoid making this into a history column, much as I love to unpack the past. So we won性视界传媒檛 dissect the nature of religious freedom, relationship with the indigenous peoples, colonialism and the founding of what started as English colonies on the coast of North America.
Instead, I will mention some things that I性视界传媒檝e mentioned before. I do it because I find these points important and helpful in our lives.
As for a number of years now, my wife will be out of town again, visiting her mother near Cincinnati, Ohio. Gabrielle will be 98 years old at the end of February. She is much diminished from the vital, intelligent woman she was. Yet she manages to express gratitude to her caregivers for everything they do for her, which these days is quite a lot.
This gratitude makes her one of the favorites among the staff. Perhaps she gets just a tiny bit more time and attention and gentleness from them. She is waiting patiently for her life to be over, firm in faith, and blessed to be surrounded by people who genuinely care for her. I admire her immensely.
In my job teaching AVID classes this year, much of what we do is learning in what is known as the affective domain. We try to learn about concepts, of course (cognitive domain), but we also look at the habits and values that will help my students be successful in college and life. Gratitude is one of those affective learnings.
Recently, a meta-analysis of quite a large number of studies showed a significant correlation between expressions of gratitude and life satisfaction. Now, it性视界传媒檚 not a slam-dunk correlation, but it性视界传媒檚 real. I told my students about that.
A few weeks ago we studied the concept of anti-fragility, the ability to prosper from randomness in life. I asked my students to write about someone they regarded as anti-fragile. Most of them wrote about their parents.
I was very moved. These young people are grateful for the struggles their parents have made for them. I told them in class that they came from good people, and they were good people, and I have a lot of confidence that they will lead decent lives and support themselves and other.
In past years, students in AVID classes have written letters to their teachers to express appreciation and gratitude. This year, I gave them paper and envelopes to write two letters, one to someone in their life they are are grateful 性视界传媒 parents, friend, boyfriends, relatives. And then I wanted them to write a second letter to one of their teachers.
I told them I would not read the personal letters, and that they were responsible for delivering them, but I said I would love to read the teacher letters if they left the envelopes unsealed.
Some teachers got quite a few letters. I think it fit the Pareto principle we had learned, because about 20% of the teachers got 80% of the letters.
For many years I helped professional colleagues achieve National Board Certification, a rigorous two-year program that requires them to demonstrate that they can meet high standards of pedagogy.
The five core propositions are, first, that teachers are committed to students and their learning. Second, teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach them to students. Third, teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning. Fourth, teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience. Fifth, teachers are members of learning communities.
I strongly support these propositions as the basis of teaching excellence. But there is something missing, something that examiners cannot assess easily. And I think it性视界传媒檚 most important.
On the afternoon I delivered the letters to the teacher mailboxes, I encountered one of the teachers who had received a large number of student gratitude letters.
I said, 性视界传媒淐heck your mailbox in the morning.性视界传媒
性视界传媒淲hat for?
性视界传媒淵our students wrote you a lot of letters. They love you.性视界传媒
性视界传媒淚 love them, too.性视界传媒
性视界传媒淭hey know.性视界传媒
So as we start another holiday season with Thanksgiving, I will focus my gratitude on my students. They are good people, and I thank them for filling the last years of my long career with faith and hope for them, and especially love.
