The word "thanks" can be so complex

I'll admit something right up front. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering to say "thank you." Don't get me wrong -- I am usually so appreciative of any type of gratitude that people show me or the school. It's not that I don't have a good memory. As you may or may not know, I have a freak-like capacity for remembering names and faces. When living in Boston, Rebecca and I went out to dinner with a work colleague and her boyfriend. They invited another person to join us, someone we didn't know. Within minutes, I told him that we had met once before at a random party several years earlier. Rebecca and our new friend sat there astonished by the fact that I remembered this very casual encounter at a crowded house party. I went on to tell him that he had a twin brother and was friends with an old roommate of mine. In short: I have no excuse for not remembering to say "thank you."


Fortunately for me, I am part of a community that takes saying thank you very seriously. Students and faculty members prove this every day. It is more than the simple yet meaningful task of saying thank you that we, as a school, consider such an essential part of a child's education. It isn't negotiable for us. Many of our students come from homes that share these values -- put that thank you into action. We ask our students questions like, "How do you want to change the world?" and "What are you grateful for?" We we don't expect trite responses; we want students to contemplate these questions during their time here. 


When beginning to think about this topic, I did some research. I stumbled upon an article by Melinda Beck from The Wall Street Journal entitled, "Thank You. No, Thank You." In the article, Beck writes, "Kids who feel and act grateful tend to be less materialistic, get better grades, set higher goals, complain of fewer headaches and stomach aches, and feel more satisfied with their friends, families, and schools than those who don't, studies show." When I was reading it, I thought of students at LGA and the overall gestalt of our community. It is a nice one. This article is talking about LGA.  Students here genuinely care about each other. We don't expect all of them to love each other, but we do expect respect for differences. We are teaching our students how to be grateful for their strengths and "not-yet strengths" that they have been blessed with. When faced with opposition from a student, often you'll hear a classroom teacher say "every single student in our class is working on something." This time of the year often makes us reflect on what we are thankful for. But it can't be the only time of the year that we think of saying thank you, because if so, then we have failed as educators. Throughout the year, students have the opportunity to ask deeper questions about themselves and why being thankful is such a complex idea. 


This Wednesday, as we prepare for Thanksgiving, the whole school will spend the day involved in different service-learning projects. For some of them it will be a culmination of a unit learned, while for others it will be the first time they are learning about terms like homelessness, poverty, and injustice. Still others will be challenged to think past themselves. For all of them, it is just a brief snapshot of being grateful and giving thanks -- and another compelling reason why this school is just that special. Thanks! (See I remembered...)