Growing Gratitude Primary and Secondary Students - in - Teachers' Conference 2019
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Growing Gratitude
in
Primary and Secondary Students
Welcome!
Facilitators for today:
1. Mrs Goh-Ng Hwee Chien
2. Ms Jeannett Lay Jia Xin
We are from Student Development Curriculum Division, Guidance Branch.
2
elementofgratitude.org
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCV-mEsASLA
3
What is gratitude?
‘…a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether
tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness
in their lives… As a result, gratitude also helps people connect to
something larger than themselves as individuals, whether to other
people, nature, or a higher power.’
Source: https://www.health.Harvard.edu/heartbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier
Gratitude is a life orientation,
a tendency to notice good things in the world and count one’s blessings
Wood et al. (2008)
4
Activity
Place your screenshot here
List three good things about the
experience you had today.
5
Objectives
At the end of the workshop, you will be able to
know
﹡key findings from the pilot study;
﹡strategies to help students reflect and to
express gratitude more deeply; and
﹡practices to promote gratitude as part of the
schools’ efforts for building student character,
enhancing student well-being and fostering
positive school culture.
6
Collaborative Norms
﹡Let everyone have a chance to share
﹡Listen Actively
﹡Respect Everyone’s Opinion
﹡Have the courage to speak openly and
honestly
﹡Honour Confidentiality
7
Flow of Presentation
1. What is gratitude?
2. Sharing of Good Practices
3. Activities
How to cultivate gratitude as a school?
Mechanisms Involved in Cultivating Gratitude
4. Sharing Learning from Our Pilot Study
5. Benefits of Gratitude
6. Tips for Implementation
7. Resources for Schools
8Self-reflection
Sharing of Good Practices
What are some platforms at the individual, classroom
and school levels where students can express
gratitude?10
Researched Gratitude Practices
----------
----------
--------
…
…
…
Gratitude Gratitude
Board / Wall Letter
Gratitude Gratitude
1. … List Journal
2. …
3. …
11Strategies to Experience and
Express Gratitude More Deeply
Guide Reflection
Consider the A, B, C to help students understand that benefactors choose to
help, to add value and to suffer costs.
Altruistic Intention
• What did he / she really want to do?
• How was it done on purpose? (Planned? Inconvenient?)
Benefit
• What immediate and secondary benefits were received?
• How did it help make something better?
Cost
• What resources did he / she have to use or give up?
• Was it time / effort / money / personal wants?
Breaking down gratitude into three concepts helps students to delve deeper into
gratitude.
12Strategies to Experience and
Express Gratitude More Deeply
Guide Reflection
Use Mental Subtraction
We often take the good things in life for granted. To increase feelings of gratitude,
visualise what your life would be like without an important event, person or thing.
E.g.,
1. Identify a positive event in your life.
2. Think back to that time and the situation.
3. Consider the ways in which this event may never have happened. (E.g., if
you had not been at the right place or with someone.)
• Write down all of the possible events and decisions that could have
prevented it from occurring.
4. Imagine what life would be now without the event.
5. Shift your focus to the present. Reflect upon the benefits the event has
brought you. Allow yourself to feel grateful that things happened as they did,
and were not inevitable or coincidental.
13Let’s try out!
Cultivating Gratitude as a School
14Don’t Make Us Invisible
Source:
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/video-on-
demand/dont-make-us-invisible/my-ambition-
10066058
15Group Activity
Task
Theme: Gratitude for Operations Support Officers
(OSO) in Singa School
Platform to Leverage on:
﹡ CCAs
﹡ CCE / FTGP Lessons
﹡ Assembly Programme
﹡ OthersSeeding Gratitude in Schools:
An ExampleThe Giving Tree
Source: https://youtu.be/1TZCP60qRIE
18Mechanisms
to tease out gratitude
Altruistic Intention
• What was the tree’s intention when it helped the little boy?
• Possible response: The tree loved the boy and wanted the boy to have
a happy life.
Benefit
• How have the little boy benefitted from the help?
• Possible response: The little boy’s wants were always met. For
example, the boy had a place to play and ate the apples. When he grew
older, he sold the apples and used the branches given by the tree to
build a house.
Cost
• What did the tree “spend” in order that the boy could benefit?
• Possible response: The tree had given up itself for the boy. It had given
up its apples, branches and trunk for the little boy.
If you are the boy, do you think you should be grateful to the tree? Why?
Now, in the school, do you find our school clean? Why? Who have been doing the job?
19Mechanisms
to tease out gratitude
Mental Subtraction
(Can consider using photographs of
dirty toilets and classrooms)
• Who do you think has the biggest part to play to keep
our school clean? Why?
• What would life in school be without school support
staff like cleaners?
• How have you benefitted from the cleaners’ job?
• Do you think it is important to show gratitude to
them? Why?
20Mechanisms
to tease out gratitude
Conclusion
Importance of having students to express gratitude
as part of their learning experience
Some tips!
Students can express gratitude through writing notes
for the cleaners (This can be done prior to assembly
so that the notes can be presented at assembly – for
school to consider.)
Presenting notes or school gifts to non-teaching staff
during the assembly itself as an expression of
gratitude as a school
21Why gratitude?
•Individual Level •Community / Societal Level
• Leads to Positive Well-being • Strengthens Relationships
• Mitigates Social Comparison • Promotes Social Integration
• Builds Resilience in the Long
Run
22Literature Review on
Benefits of Gratitude for Schools
Students Teachers
• Feel more positive emotions, more • Feel more positive emotions and a
optimistic about their future and have a greater sense of achievement
(Chan, 2010)
stronger sense of meaning in life
(Bono, Emmons Froh et al, 2011)
• Less materialistic and less envious of • More motivated to teach well and
others experience less burnout
(Bono, Emmons Froh et al, 2011) (Chan, 2010)
• Feel more connected to their peers, • Relationships with colleagues and
teachers and school students improve, increasing overall
(Bono & Froh , 2011)
school well-being
(Howells, 2013)
• Feel more motivated to help others and to
contribute back to society
(Bono & Froh , 2011)
23Early Results from Pilot Study
Showed an increased appreciation of Changed in perception and behaviour
people and things in their lives towards students
Developed a more positive outlook
More likely to give thanks and deeper appreciation of the
independently things and people around them
Expanded understanding of
More positive outlook and gratitude and strategies to
widened perspective of life facilitate reflections
Had a positive and meaningful Experienced positive emotions
experience
Formed a gratitude habit Encouraged by students’ enthusiasm
24Tips for Implementation
in Schools
A Supportive
Culture
Teacher Belief and
Core Team’s Belief
Professional
and Leadership
Practice
Teaching
Empowering Approaches and
Teachers in Strategies in the
Implementation Whole School
Curriculum
25Guidelines for School Implementation
26Self-reflection
Let’s Reflect
• How are the ideas and information presented
Connect today connected to what you already knew?
• What new ideas did you get that extended
Extend and pushed your thinking in new direction(s)?
• What is a key challenge that you foresee and
how would you manage it?
Challenge • What is one thing that is within your sphere of
influence and that you are willing to try out?
27Resources for Schools
Gratitude E-resource Gratitude Journal
The Gratitude Challenge Gratitude Cards
28Questions
&
Answers
29Thank You!
For further queries and clarifications,
please contact Guidance Branch.
Ms Jeannett Lay
Jeannett_LAY@moe.gov.sg; 6838 6598
Ms Quek Ser Hwee
QUEK_Ser_Hwee@moe.gov.sg; 6838 6610
30Acknowledgements
We would like to express our deepest appreciation to the
Six Pilot Schools, namely,
﹡Concord Primary School,
﹡Yumin Primary School,
﹡Dunman Secondary School,
﹡East Spring Secondary School,
﹡Swiss Cottage Secondary School, and
﹡Tanglin Secondary School,
for partnering us on the journey of exploration, innovation and growth, working whole-heartedly for the well-being of
our students and seeding the gratitude movement through their contribution to the e-publication which we are using to
share at Teachers’ Conference 2019,
Dr Y. Joel Wong, Programme Director, Counselling Psychology and Associate Professor, Counselling and
Counselling Psychology, Indiana University Bloomington, for sharing his expertise and research in gratitude
so generously and helping us to understand the concepts of gratitude and convincing us of the benefits of
practising it,
Haig Girls’ School for sharing with us their school experiences in nurturing gratitude prior to the start of the
Gratitude Pilot Project and giving us a sense of how nurturing gratitude can look, sound and feel in a school,
and the
Psychological Assessment and Research Branch for the excellent professional support that they have given us
that helped to strengthen the rigour of the study and to ensure relevance of the findings.
31References
Bono, G. & Froh, J. (2011). A review of gratitude interventions and some ideas for applications. ASP Communique, 39 (5).
Retrieved from http://www.nasponline.org/publications/cq/ mocq395GratitudeinYouth.aspx
Chan, D. W. (2010). Teacher burnout revisited: Introducing positive intervention approaches based on gratitude and
forgiveness. Hong Kong Educational Research Journal, 25 (2), 165 –186.
Chan, D. W. (2010). Gratitude, gratitude intervention and subjective well-being among Chinese school teachers in Hong
Kong. Educational Psychology: An international journal of experimental education Psychology, 30 (2), 139–153.
Froh, J. J., Emmons, R. A., Card, N. A., Bono, G., & Wilson, J. A. (2011). Gratitude and the reduced costs of materialism in
adolescents.Journal of Happiness Studies, 12(2), 289–302.
Howells, K. (2013). Enhancing teacher relationships and effectiveness through the practice of gratitude. Teachers Matter.
Retrieved from http://teachersmattermagazine.co.nz/archives/707
Wood, A. M., Maltby, J., Stewart, N., Linley, P. A., & Joseph, S. (2008). A social-cognitive model of trait and state levels of
gratitude. Emotion, 8, 281–290.
Giving thanks can make you happier. (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://www.health.Harvard.edu/heartbeat/giving-thanks-
can-make-you-happier
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