In this book, you'll find fun, practical activities and strategies to develop an attitude of gratitude: the positive mindset that kids and teens need to successfully weather ups and downs, successes and setbacks. "Growing with Gratitude" outlines simple steps that you can start to action immediately, whether in the classroom, the whole…

Incorporating gratitude into the school day has the potential to help students achieve more satisfaction with relationships, life, and school. Grateful students are more willing to give back, exhibit optimism, have greater exercise ambition, and sleep better. While there has been much work done in adding gratitude practices into a classroom…

Courses: Public speaking. Objectives: This assignment reduces speech anxiety through the affect-reframing power of gratitude, and enables students to consolidate their gains by experiencing social support from a staff mentor.

Journaling can be a tool for improved mental health during a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for educators both professionally and personally. The author discusses the many types of journals that writers might choose to keep, including an exercise journal, bullet journal, free writing journal, gratitude journal, travel…

As an emerging interest area, positive communication scholarship focuses on issues of happiness and well-being in a variety of social contexts. Borrowing from positive psychology and happiness literature (Lyubomirsky, 2008), positive communication research explores expressions of gratitude, kindness, compassion, and forgiveness, as well as issues…

How can you energize yourself to maintain or regain a positive outlook and love of teaching? What specific, immediate actions can you take to enhance your well-being and thrive both on and off the job? Award-winning teacher Chase Mielke draws from his own research, lesson plans, and experiences with burnout to help you change your outlook,…

Research studies looking into the effects of positive psychology interventions (PPIs) implemented in classrooms have yielded promising results, not only in terms of student well-being but also in terms of academic outcomes, school climate, and teacher well-being. However, a number of PPIs require relatively high levels of commitment from school…

Somalia has a long and rich oral literacy tradition of poetry, proverbs, and songs, while Somalia's print literacy history has been significantly disrupted by colonization and then the Somali Civil War. Many Somalis have fled the country since the start of the civil war in 1991, and an estimated 10,000 Somalis have made a new home in Maine. When…

BREATHE is an acronym for Breathe, Reflect, Empathize, Accept, Thank, Hearten, Engage. The addition of Understand allows for a holistic approach to living a healthy and balanced life both inside and outside the classroom. This paper took form as a result of my personal, spiritual journey, as well as my teaching practice. I noticed that the…

"Imagination for Inclusion" offers a reconsideration of the ways in which imagination engages and empowers learners across the education spectrum, from primary to adult levels and in all subject areas. Imagination as a natural, expedient, and exciting learning tool should be central to any approach to developing and implementing…

Spiritual nurturing includes the recognition that children have valuable ways of knowing, such as pondering, sacred listening, intuition, and dreams and visions. Children nurtured in spiritual ways of being are supported through the traits of creativity, compassion, love, gratitude, affirmation, contemplation, and silence. These attributes are…

This volume offers teachers in the ESL/EFL classroom some of the first published materials for guiding learners past grammar into authentic-sounding (conventional) utterances and sequences, replacing the scripted unnatural or stilted dialogue provided in textbooks. Teachers will find a range of pedagogical activities to put to immediate use in the…

Positive psychology is a rapidly expanding area of study that is of great interest to students at the graduate, undergraduate, and high school levels. But the field is so broad that teachers who want to cover all the bases when designing a positive psychology course may have difficulty locating and selecting materials. "Activities for Teaching…

In this brief column, the author of "Teachers Touch Eternity," provides 20 tips that teachers can use to motivate themselves and others through the dark days of winter: (1) Fake it till you make it; (2) Allow for spontaneity; (3) Build an encouragement folder; (4) Lighten up! (5) Read motivational books or inspirational thoughts late at night or…

This workbook takes the theories and research from many disciplines and experts and combines them into short, easy-to-assimilate units that facilitate group participation at the high school and college level. Group skills are presented as 26 distinctive lessons. Each lesson begins with an explanation page, then an activity page gives the group an…