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Connection to something greater than self is the highest level of human needs and goals. While a sustained connection is not easily acquired, teachers can design their classrooms to provide opportunities for students to begin forging such connections. Here, we consider seven topics related to connection to something greater than self: (1) inspirational ideals, (2) altruism, (3) empathy, (4) forgiveness, (5) gratitude, (6) mindfulness, and (7) Rachel’s Challenge.

Inspirational Ideals

In order to inspire students in the classroom, educators must first address a very basic question: What is inspiration? Inspiration is fairly easy to identify when it is being experienced firsthand. For example, consider an individual reading a story about a woman who overcame poverty, started a multimillion-dollar company, and now donates much of her wealth to benefit underprivileged communities. It is likely that the individual reading this story would be moved or even experience a sense of awe or wonder—clearly, the individual would be inspired. The cause of inspiration, however, may not be so easily articulated. As Todd M. Thrash, Andrew J. Elliot, Laura A. Maruskin, and Scott E. Cassidy (2010) explained:

Many of the experiences that individuals find most fulfilling—peak experiences … creative insights … spiritual epiphanies … and emotions of awe and elevation …—cannot be controlled or directly acquired, because they involve the transcendence of one’s current desires, values, or expectations. Indeed, life would likely seem bland if one’s strivings were never interrupted and informed by such experiences. We propose that inspiration … is central to each of the above experiences. (p. 488)

Foundational to Thrash and colleagues’ (2010) description of inspiration is the concept of transcendence— going beyond our current circumstances. Experiencing transcendence, and therefore inspiration, is a function of gaining access to our ideals—the way we would like the world to be. Examples of commonly held ideals include the ability to overcome difficult circumstances, the power of hard work, and the intrinsic goodness of others. These ideals are not always at the forefront of our minds. Rather, they form a subtle network of hopes and dreams. Inspiration occurs when people see evidence that one or more of their ideals could actually be true. For example, the story of the philanthropic entrepreneur might provide evidence for the ideal that great wealth can be used to benefit others or that people can overcome negative circumstances outside their control. A person holding these beliefs would transcend his or her current circumstances by recognizing that one or more of his or her ideals are in operation in the larger world. This is the essence of inspiration. It is also important to note that while some experiences of transcendence or inspiration are momentary, moments of transcendence, however brief, can have long-lasting effects that drive individuals to act on their ideals and make them reality.

Fostering inspiration in the classroom begins by presenting students with examples of persistence, bravery, altruism, and so on. Teachers can then use these examples to help students become aware of and identify the underlying ideals they represent. Educators can provide examples in a variety of formats including movies, stories, and quotations.

Movies

Movies can be a source of inspiration for both students and teachers. Movies to inspire teachers might include Dead Poets Society, Lean on Me, Freedom Writers, Mr. Holland’s Opus, and Good Will Hunting. For students, inspirational movies might include Rudy, Remember the Titans, Up, The Blind Side, and The Help. Table 2.1 contains a short list of movies which might be appropriate for classroom use along with the ideals they exemplify. Visit MarzanoResources.com/reproducibles for a comprehensive list of inspirational movies.

Table 2.1: List of Movies and Ideals They Exemplify

Movie	Example Ideal
Cool Runnings	Hard work and companionship can lead to success, even against the greatest of odds.
Remember the Titans	People can learn to overcome their differences to care for one another, even if at first it seems unlikely.
Seabiscuit	When people stop believing others’ negative expectations of them, they can go on to do great things.
Forrest Gump	Good things happen to people with a positive attitude.
Whale Rider	Even when others doubt your abilities, you can prove yourself through fearlessness and hard work.
Billy Elliot	People who follow their dreams are rewarded, even if their dreams run counter to the expectations of society.

Before having students watch a film (or selections from one), teachers should provide a context and a purpose for viewing the video. To illustrate, consider a middle school teacher who wants to show excerpts of the movie Remember the Titans. The teacher might first address the context of the film by talking to students about segregation as well as the Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. The purpose, as articulated by the teacher, should always focus on ideals that are represented in the clip and be age- and subject-matter appropriate. As such, the teacher might preface the viewing by defining what an ideal is, describing how ideals relate to inspiration, and asking students to think about this concept. As students watch, the teacher might pause the film occasionally to get students’ reactions about how characters treat each other and how these relationships change. After watching Remember the Titans, the teacher could lead a discussion about the film’s depiction of the hostility toward African Americans during the reintegration of schools in the South. The teacher could then ask students to articulate ideals they felt were shown in the movie. For example, a student might generate the following list of ideals.

▸ People can learn to overcome their differences to care for one another, even if at first it seems unlikely.

▸ People can go on to do great things, even after they experience tragedy.

▸ Hard work does pay off, even if it is difficult and not rewarding initially.

▸ Setting an example by doing what is right can have a huge positive impact on a community.

After each student has generated a few ideals, the teacher can ask students to respond to the following questions.

▸ Can you describe an instance in your own life when you experienced this ideal in action? How did this make you feel?

▸ Can you describe an instance in your own life when this ideal was lacking?

Educators can reinforce students’ ideals throughout the year by referencing previously identified ideals when appropriate.

Stories

Like movies, teachers can incorporate stories into their classrooms as a way to foster inspiration. While there are many inspirational stories online and in print, one particularly well-known source of inspirational stories is the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Each book in the series compiles short stories and anecdotes about life written by dozens of different authors. The series also contains multiple volumes written specifically for adolescents, such as Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul (Canfield, Hansen, & Kirberger, 1997) and Chicken Soup for the Child’s Soul (Canfield, Hansen, Hansen, & Dunlap, 2007).

As an illustration of how these stories might be used in a classroom, a teacher could have groups of students choose stories from Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul (Canfield et al., 1997) and explain why they are inspirational. For example, consider the story “The Most Mature Thing I’ve Ever Seen” (Doenim, 1997), which is about a student defending a new classmate from being teased. In the story, a girl named Lisa is new to a school and feels unwelcome because she is not a member of any of the cliques that assemble around the quad during lunch. As such, she experiences “cruel, hateful stares” (p. 268) from her classmates while trying to find a place to eat. As she walks across the quad, a place other students avoid, she trips, and the other students laugh. A boy helps Lisa up and escorts her out of the quad, which silences the laughter and highlights the cruelty of the other students. Students presenting on this story could give a brief summary of its plot and then read the following excerpt:

The next day at Monroe High School at lunchtime a curious thing happened. As soon as the bell that ended the last morning class started ringing, the students swarmed toward their lockers. Then those who didn’t eat in the cafeteria headed with their sack lunches across the quad. From all parts of the campus, different groups of students walked freely across the quad. No one could really explain why it was okay now. Everybody just knew. And if you ever visit Monroe High School, that’s how it is today. It happened some time ago. I never even knew his name. But what he did, nobody who was there will ever forget. Nobody. (p. 269)

After reading the excerpt, the group members could use the quotation to provide evidence for ideals they feel are exemplified by the story, such as those related to the importance of kindness or the impact of one’s actions. Alternatively, a teacher might assign all students the same story to read and ask them to use ideals to explain why the story is inspirational. Visit MarzanoResources.com/reproducibles for a list of brief stories about inspirational individuals that students can also use to practice identifying ideals.

Quotations

Quotations provide a quick and easy way to integrate inspiration into the classroom, as they are usually explicit or implicit statements of ideals. A valuable feature of incorporating inspiring quotes into the classroom is that teachers can offer them to students with little explanation. For example, a teacher might begin his or her class by displaying an inspirational quote on a PowerPoint slide or whiteboard but choose not to address it directly. Alternatively, the teacher could comment briefly on the quote by providing information about its author and its key ideal or ask students to take a few minutes to think about the quotation’s meaning without further discussion.

For a more in-depth activity, teachers can ask students to rephrase ideals embedded in quotations. For example, consider the following quotation from Albert Einstein: “It is the same with people as it is with riding a bike. Only when moving can one comfortably maintain one’s balance” (as cited in Isaacson, 2007, p. 565). After reading this to students, a teacher could ask them to work in small groups to identify an ideal from the quote that inspires them and discuss how it applies to their lives.

Teachers can also ask students to examine the stories behind given quotations. With access to the Internet, this is fairly easy to do. To illustrate, consider the following quotation by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during his pre-eminent “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963:

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. (as cited in Council on Foreign Relations, 2016)

After presenting the quote, the teacher might elaborate on the historical significance of the “I Have a Dream” speech and contextualize it by describing the brutality experienced by many protestors during the civil rights movement. Once the class understood the political and social climate leading up to King’s March on Washington, the teacher could revisit the quote and ask students to explain why Dr. King’s emphasis on nonviolence is exceptional. Visit MarzanoResources.com/reproducibles for a comprehensive list of inspirational quotations.

Altruism

Providing opportunities for students to practice altruism is a powerful strategy that directly contributes to a sense of connection to something greater than self. Simply stated, altruism is the act of assisting others without an expectation of recognition or payback. Such acts can be quite inspiring, as they allow students to transcend their current circumstances and recognize that they can positively impact the world. Depending on the time and resources available, teachers can engage students in long- and short-term projects that encourage altruistic tendencies.

It is important to note that teachers should never actively reward altruistic behavior. In fact, research has shown that rewarding selfless behaviors may actually make it less likely that individuals will engage in such behaviors when rewards are not involved (Chernyak & Kushnir, 2013; Fabes, Fultz, Eisenberg, May-Plumlee, & Christopher, 1989; Warneken & Tomasello, 2008, 2013). Rather, educators should capitalize on students’ natural proclivity toward altruism by providing them with opportunities to volunteer and, afterward, prompting reflection on their experiences. These activities encourage students to view altruism positively and heighten their sense of connection to something greater than self, regardless of the degree to which the activities are voluntary.

There are a number of ways students can be engaged in altruistic activities while at school. Participation in volunteer days is an increasingly common practice that helps students experience the positive benefits of altruism. There are a number of pre-established events—such as Earth Day (www.earthday.org), Make a Difference Day (http://makeadifferenceday.com), and Pay It Forward Day (http://payitforwardday.com)—that encourage nationwide volunteerism on a specific date. Teachers or students can also design their own service projects that are specific to the unique needs of their communities and schedules. Table 2.2 (page 16) provides a list of examples of such projects. In addition, teachers can provide lists of local charities that may need volunteers or remind students of service-oriented community events.

Rather than rewarding altruistic behaviors, teachers can guide students through reflection activities that help them see how helping others is a powerful and positive experience. To this end, teachers can use the following questions to prompt discussion after service activities.

▸ How do you think your actions positively affected others?

▸ How does it make you feel to know that you have positively impacted someone else’s life?

▸ Has someone done something nice for you without the expectation of receiving something in return? How did this make you feel?

If students doubt the importance of their role in volunteering, teachers can ask relevant community organizers involved in the volunteer day to speak about the impact of the students’ actions or, if possible, provide data and statistics to this effect. Teachers could also provide examples of the lasting impact of other students’ altruistic actions on their communities. For example, Isaac McFarland of Shreveport, Louisiana, distributed three thousand backpacks filled with food and hygiene products to homeless students, local shelters, and rescue missions on Make a Difference Day in 2014 (Spradlin, 2015). Following are a few other examples of altruistic actions by students adapted from Lesli Amos (2014).

Table 2.2: Example Service Projects

Length of Project	Example Projects
One-Time Projects	• Donate blood.• Write thank-you letters or create care packages for troops deployed overseas.• Write a letter to a politician about an important issue (for example, Amnesty International has a campaign called Write for Rights that students can participate in).• Collect donations for a specific charity over a length of time and donate them after a specific date (for example, have students collect and donate clothes, blankets, nonperishable foods, books, toys, hygiene products, and so on).• Clean up the neighborhoods, community areas, or parks surrounding the school.• Organize a bake sale and donate proceeds to a specific cause.• Participate in a charity competition event (for example, Race for the Cure or Relay for Life).• Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF (www.unicefusa.org/trick-or-treat).• Spend time with and assist people in nursing homes.
Ongoing Projects	• Tutor younger students.• Participate in mentorship programs.• Provide a service for the school (for example, develop a program in which students reshelve books in the library or clean up trash on campus once a month).• Partner with a local organization and make repeated visits to volunteer there.

Source: Adapted from Amos, 2014.

▸ At the age of nine, Neha Gupta established her organization, Empower Orphans, which focuses on providing education and health care to orphaned children. The organization has helped more than twenty-five thousand children globally.

▸ At the age of nine, Katie Stagliano started planting fruits and vegetables in her garden to help the hungry and eventually founded her organization, Katie’s Krops, which has helped feed thousands of people.

▸ At the age of ten, Zach Certner founded SNAP, which develops athletic programs for children with special needs.

▸ At the age of ten, LuLu Cerone founded LemonAID Warriors, which challenges kids to make social activism a part of their social lives.

▸ At the age of twelve, Jonathan Woods established the Under the Tree Foundation, which provides gifts to underprivileged teens during the holidays.

▸ At the age of thirteen, Claire Fraise established her organization, Lucky Tails Animal Rescue, which provides second chances for dogs that would otherwise be euthanized.

▸ At the age of fourteen, Jordyn Schara founded WI P2D2 (Wisconsin Prescription Pill and Drug Disposal), which helps people dispose of medications in an environmentally friendly and safe way.

▸ At the age of fifteen, Shannon McNamara started SHARE, which provides thousands of girls in Africa with books and school supplies.

Teachers can share such examples with students to highlight the impact young people and their altruistic actions can have on their communities. As students engage in altruistic behaviors and see this impact firsthand, they are by definition experiencing brief moments of a connection to something greater than self.

Empathy

Empathy is a direct pathway to a connection to something greater than self. When we experience empathy, we transcend our natural tendency to focus exclusively on our own needs and goals. Before teachers can expect students to practice empathy, however, they must understand the meaning of the term. Empathy is often confused with sympathy, and while both relate to others’ feelings, they are not the same. When we empathize with someone, we attempt to understand his or her perspective or circumstances as a means to connect on a deeper level, while sympathy involves commiseration and feeling sorry for others.

Examples of Empathy

There are a number of resources that provide examples of empathic behavior or highlight the differences between empathy and sympathy. To this end, educators can find stories from history and literature and incorporate them into class time. For an example from literature, students could be asked to consider Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White (1952). In the book, Charlotte, Templeton, and Fern Arable all exhibit empathy for Wilbur when his life is at risk by attempting to understand his situation as if it were their own. This inspires them to take direct actions that help Wilbur rather than simply feeling sorry for him, which would be considered a product of sympathy.

Teachers can also use historical figures to highlight instances of empathy in the real world. Chiune Sugihara is one such example.

Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat stationed in Lithuania at the beginning of World War II. As the Nazis began to take over Western Europe, Jewish refugees fled into Lithuania, bringing accounts of the atrocities of the Holocaust with them. In 1940, the Soviet Union (which occupied Lithuania) ordered that all diplomats return to their countries of origin before the Nazi army invaded. Before Sugihara left with his family, Jewish refugees gathered around the Japanese consulate hoping that Sugihara could issue them the appropriate papers to allow them to leave the country. Sugihara did not have the clearance to issue these visas without approval, but when he asked his superiors, they denied his request. Recognizing that the refugees’ lives depended on him, he asked for a twenty-day extension of his post and began issuing visas on his own, despite the fact these actions directly contradicted his orders. Sugihara spent eighteen to twenty hours a day handwriting visas for refugees, and often produced a month’s worth of visas in a single day. Ultimately, he issued over six thousand visas to Jewish refugees, which allowed them to escape the country with their lives (WGBH Educational Foundation, 2005).

Students might be asked, after hearing this story, why Sugihara’s actions are more indicative of empathy than sympathy. After students examine fictional and nonfictional accounts of empathy, they can find and explain their own examples of empathy from literature or history.

Attributes of Empathy

When teachers ask students to understand empathy as it applies to their lives, it may be helpful to highlight the following four attributes, as identified by Theresa Wiseman (1996).

1. Being able to see the world as others see it

2. Being nonjudgmental

3. Being able to understand another person’s feelings

4. Being able to communicate an understanding of another person’s feelings

To demonstrate being able to see the world as others see it, teachers might engage students in the following actions.

▸ Analyzing competing points of view: For example, debating as a means to understand multiple sides of the same issue

▸ Stepping outside their current circumstances: For example, roleplaying as notable figures (such as the protagonist of a short story or famous figures from history)

▸ Explaining other people’s reasoning: For example, explaining the reasoning behind specific opinions on a controversial issue

To demonstrate being nonjudgmental, teachers might engage students in the following actions.

▸ Becoming aware of and avoiding negative or judgmental language: For example, limiting the use of judgmental language about themselves and others and correcting it when it does occur

▸ Exploring why judgments are often inaccurate: For example, identifying a judgment or stereotype and examining how it is incorrect

▸ Identifying their own judgments: For example, reflecting on judgments they hold about something (such as a specific character in a book or the difficulty of a mathematics problem) and reflecting on why they feel that way

To demonstrate being able to understand another person’s feelings, teachers might engage students in the following actions.

▸ Using targeted questioning: For example, asking themselves a question like “If I were in this situation, how would I feel?” and so on

▸ Explaining how feelings affect interactions: For example, discussing how feelings and emotions affect an individual’s interpretation of a situation

▸ Examining sympathetic feelings: For example, recognizing and describing sympathetic feelings and explaining how these feelings could motivate empathetic behaviors

▸ Practicing reading facial expressions: For example, identifying the feelings of subjects in photographs or artwork

To demonstrate being able to communicate an understanding of another person’s feelings, teachers might engage students in the following actions.

▸ Reflecting on their own language: For example, examining how often they ask questions of their fellow students as an opportunity to tell other students about themselves

▸ Focusing on how others’ actions affect them rather than placing blame: For example, using statements such as “I feel __________ when you __________” (see “I” Statements, page 104)

▸ Explaining empathic qualities: For example, explaining others’ positive actions using examples, such as “I knew you were paying attention to me because your response question built on my previous answer” and so on

▸ Reviewing reminders of appropriate communication: For example, referring to classroom procedures or classroom decorations that outline appropriate communication

In addition to these strategies, teachers can provide students with the following five steps that encourage empathic interactions with one another.

1. Watch & Listen: What is the other person saying, and what is his or her body language?

2. Remember: When did you feel the same way?

3. Imagine: How does the other person feel? And how would you feel in that situation?

4. Ask: Ask what the person is feeling.

5. Show You Care: Let him or her know that you care through your words and actions. (Taran, 2013)

As students are asked to practice empathic behaviors, they may find that these behaviors become more natural over time. Teachers should also model and reinforce empathy whenever possible to further strengthen students’ practice of it.

Forgiveness

The experience of forgiveness can also provide a direct connection to something greater than self. This connection occurs because forgiveness inherently requires individuals to think outside of themselves. Robert D. Enright and Richard P. Fitzgibbons (2000), in their empirical guide about the process of forgiveness, stated:

People, upon rationally determining that they have been unfairly treated, forgive when they willfully abandon resentment and related responses (to which they have a right), and endeavor to respond to the wrongdoer based on the moral principle of beneficence, which may include compassion, unconditional worth, generosity, and moral love (to which the wrongdoer, by nature of the hurtful act or acts, has no right). (p. 29)

As such, the nature of forgiveness makes it intrinsically challenging for most if not all individuals. When individuals do succeed in forgiving others, they often experience positive psychological and physical benefits (Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2000; Gassin, Enright, & Knutson, 2005; Luskin, Ginzburg, & Thoresen, 2005; Witvliet, Ludwig, & Vander Laan, 2001). For example, after observing the effects of forgiveness education in schools, Elizabeth A. Gassin, Robert D. Enright, and Jeanette A. Knutson (2005) posited that the reduction in anger stemming from forgiveness leads “to less depression and anxiety and to stronger academic achievement and more peaceful social behavior” (p. 321) among students.

Teachers should help students associate forgiveness with positive and powerful outcomes. To this end, teachers can lead students in discussions about times in their lives when they have forgiven or needed forgiveness from others. Teachers can also provide students with stories of forgiveness, whether personal or from books, movies, or history, as some stories of forgiveness are deeply moving. For example, consider the story of Mary Johnson and Oshea Israel.

In 1993, when Oshea Israel was sixteen, he shot and killed Laramiun Byrd, Mary Johnson’s only son. Although it might have been easier for Mary Johnson to remain angry at Oshea Israel, she chose a different path. During Israel’s prison sentence, Johnson reached out to her son’s killer, and the two agreed to meet. By the end of their initial meeting, both Johnson and Israel were overcome with emotion and Johnson felt she had sincerely forgiven Israel. Throughout Israel’s sentence, Johnson continued to visit Israel regularly, and the two built a strong relationship. After being released from prison, Israel moved next door to Johnson, and the two remained very close. Johnson and Israel regularly expressed love for the other, and Johnson often referred to Israel as her son. As Johnson put it, “Well, my natural son is no longer here. I didn’t see him graduate. Now you’re going to college. I’ll have the opportunity to see you graduate. I didn’t see him getting married. Hopefully one day, I’ll be able to experience that with you” (NPR Staff, 2011).

After presenting such a story and discussing its inspirational attributes, teachers can directly teach students about the process of forgiveness. For example, teachers could present the Enright Forgiveness Process Model (Enright, 2001) to their students, which identifies the following four phases of the forgiveness process.

1. Uncovering phase: Recognizing an offense and its associated negative consequences

2. Decision phase: Deciding to forgive

3. Work phase: Trying to reframe feelings about the offense or the offender

4. Deepening phase: Identifying the positives from the situation as a whole

Each phase in this model is further broken down into component actions. Teachers can explain the phases of the forgiveness process and actions taken during each using the prompts in table 2.3.

Gassin and colleagues (2005) noted that it is important to delve into the true nature of forgiveness to dispel common misconceptions about it:

Our group thoroughly reviewed philosophical work on forgiveness, which makes clear that forgiveness is offered from a position of strength…. Forgiveness does not make one weak or vulnerable; it should be confused neither with condoning (e.g., ignoring or subtly approving) an offense, nor with reconciliation (reestablishing a relationship with an offender). Forgiveness does not preclude moderate, limited expressions of anger or a search for reasonable redress of injustice. (p. 322)

After discussing forgiveness with students, teachers should directly address these common misconceptions. They can do this by asking students to differentiate between forgiveness, approval, and reconciliation, as well as to define appropriate and inappropriate responses to an offense. Teachers should be wary of forcing students to forgive one another after conflicts arise in class, as one can never mandate forgiveness. In other words, teachers can inform students of the forgiveness process and its benefits, but they should also make the distinction that practicing forgiveness is an individual choice in which students must decide to engage.

Table 2.3: Enright Forgiveness Process Model

Phase	Associated Prompts
Uncovering phase	• Who hurt you?• How deeply were you hurt?• On what specific incident will you focus?• What were the circumstances at the time? Was it morning or afternoon? Cloudy or sunny? What was said? How did you respond?• How have you avoided dealing with anger?• How have you faced your anger?• Are you afraid to expose your shame or guilt?• Has your anger affected your health?• Have you been obsessed with the injury or the offender?• Do you compare your situation with that of the offender?• Has the injury caused a permanent change in your life?• Has the injury changed your worldview?
Decision phase	• Decide that what you have been doing hasn’t worked.• Be willing to begin the forgiveness process.• Decide to forgive.
Work phase	• Work toward understanding the offender by viewing him or her in context.• Work toward compassion for the offender.• Accept the pain associated with the offense.• Give the offender a gift (moral or otherwise).
Deepening phase	• Find meaning for the self and others in the offense and the forgiveness process.• Recognize times when you needed forgiveness from others.• Discover you are not alone.• Realize that the offense has positive implications.• Recognize the emotional release, decreased negative effect, and increased positive effect of forgiveness.

Source: Adapted from Enright, 2001. Used with permission.

Gratitude

Exploring and experiencing gratitude is another way to help students connect to something greater than self. Researchers Jeffrey J. Froh and Giacomo Bono (2012) stated that, for students, gratitude “improves their mood, mental health, and life satisfaction, and it can jumpstart more purposeful engagement in life at a critical moment in their development, when their identity is taking shape.” In fact, Froh and Bono (2012) found:

Teens who had high levels of gratitude when entering high school had less negative emotions and depression and more positive emotions, life satisfaction, and happiness four years later when they were finishing high school. They also had more hope and a stronger sense of meaning in life.

Gratitude helps us see the positive aspects of our lives overall as opposed to a narrow perspective of what is happening in our lives at a specific moment. According to Christopher Peterson (2008), gratitude is at the heart of positive psychology, the study of what makes life worth living. Peterson (2008) noted that the following beliefs underlie positive psychology.

▸ What is good in life is as genuine as what is bad.

▸ What is good in life is not the absence of what is not.

▸ What is good in life is worth acknowledging and exploring.

These beliefs are probably a good place to start with students as they begin to engage in gratitude practice. Teachers could present groups of students with these statements and discuss the extent to which they believe these principles are true and present in their day-to-day actions.

With this discussion as a background, students working individually or in groups can be asked to generate definitions of gratitude. The following list contains a few examples.

▸ “An emotion or state resulting from an awareness and appreciation of that which is valuable and meaningful to oneself” (Lambert, Clark, Durtschi, Fincham, & Graham, 2010, p. 574)

▸ “Gratitude—a positive emotion that typically flows from the perception that one has benefited from the costly, intentional, voluntary action of another person” (McCullough, Kimeldorf, & Cohen, 2008, p. 281)

▸ “Gratitude is the positive emotion one feels when another person has intentionally given, or attempted to give, one something of value” (Bartlett & DeSteno, 2006, p. 319)

▸ “An estimate of gain coupled with the judgment that someone else is responsible for that gain” (Solomon, 1976/1993, p. 257)

▸ “Hav[ing] something to do with kindness, generousness, gifts, the beauty of giving and receiving, or ‘getting something for nothing’” (Pruyser, 1976, p. 69)

▸ “By showing gratitude … we express our beliefs that [others] acted with our interests in mind and that we benefited; we show that we are glad for the benefit and the others’ concern—we appreciate what was done” (Berger, 1975, p. 302)

Once students understand the concept of gratitude, they can be systematically engaged in gratitude-based activities. The following gratitude activities identified by Vicki Zakrzewski (2013) are easily integrated into the classroom.

▸ Gratitude book: Create a classroom scrapbook with space for students to write and draw about things for which they are grateful. Send the book home with a different student each week so families can contribute to the gratitude book as well.

▸ Gratitude circle: Begin or end the day by having each student identify one thing he or she is grateful for and why. For younger students, provide examples to help model this behavior.

▸ Gratitude collage or bulletin board: Have students cut out pictures of things for which they are grateful and post them on a bulletin board or use them to create a class collage.

▸ Gratitude journals: Once a week, have students write in their journals about three things for which they are grateful and why. This strategy may lose its impact if it is employed more than once a week, as time for reflection is necessary to prevent repetitive entries.

▸ Gratitude letters for the community: Have students write letters of gratitude to others in the school. For example, students might choose to write to janitors, food service staff, other teachers, or administrators to thank them for their service. Teachers could also expand this activity so that students write to members of their larger community, such as firefighters, nurses, police officers, and so on.

▸ Gratitude paper chain: Give students strips of paper and ask them to write down one thing for which they are grateful on each strip. Have the class work together to create a gratitude paper chain and hang it somewhere in the room.

▸ Gratitude quilt: Give students square pieces of paper and ask them to draw things they are grateful for on their squares. Have students mount their squares on larger pieces of colored paper to create borders and assemble the squares into a “quilt” to hang in the classroom.

▸ Gratitude surprise sticky notes: Give students each a sticky note and ask them to write about something in the school for which they are grateful. Have students post their sticky notes in places where others will see them.

Clearly, a number of these strategies can be used quickly and without much setup. As such, teachers can easily incorporate them into class time as activities for free time at the end of a period or during transitions.

Mindfulness

A definition of mindfulness is a deliberate focus on thinking that results in intentionality. The premise behind mindfulness is that people are typically filled with so many thoughts and related emotions that they are often incapable of making the best decisions or noticing what is happening around them. Thus, the simple act of being more aware often increases their self-efficacy.

Mindfulness practice has a strong grounding in research on the positive effects of some forms of meditation. Meditation has been tied to improved academic achievement, with one study finding that 41 percent of students who participated in transcendental meditation experienced boosts in academic performance compared to 15 percent in control groups (Nidich et al., 2011). Additionally, meditation has been associated with better concentration and focus (Paul, Elam, & Verhulst, 2007; Travis, Grosswald, & Stixrud, 2011); emotional well-being, as students who meditated daily were found to have higher esteem and emotional competence than their peers who did not regularly meditate (David Lynch Foundation, n.d.); and reduction in academic stress, absenteeism, and negative or destructive behaviors among students (Barnes, Bauza, & Treiber, 2003; Paul et al., 2007). Meditation may also improve students’ physical health, as it has been linked to reductions in blood pressure and risk of cardiovascular diseases among practitioners (Tanner et al., 2009). Although not all mindfulness strategies involve meditation, both practices rely on similar mental dynamics.

Increasingly, mindfulness practice is being integrated into schools as more and more studies show the positive effects it can have on students. As an example, consider Visitacion Valley Middle School in San Francisco. Before adopting the Quiet Time program, an integrated mindfulness program that incorporates two fifteen-minute periods of meditation into the school day, the school struggled with disruptive and poorly behaved students, frequent fighting during the school day, graffiti, and continual confrontations between students and teachers (Kirp, 2014). However, after implementation, the school noticed a drastic change in students’ behaviors:

In the first year of Quiet Time, the number of suspensions fell by 45 percent. Within four years, the suspension rate was among the lowest in the city. Daily attendance rates climbed to 98 percent, well above the citywide average. Grade point averages improved markedly…. Remarkably, in the annual California Healthy Kids Survey, these middle school youngsters recorded the highest happiness levels in San Francisco. (Kirp, 2014)

The following list presents specific strategies from Patricia A. Jennings (2015) that allow teachers to incorporate mindfulness into their classrooms.

▸ Mindful listening: During transition times, engage students in specific listening activities that encourage mindfulness. It may be helpful to exclusively use a specific chime or bell for this activity. To begin, announce, “We’re going to do a listening activity that will help our minds relax and become more focused. First, let’s all sit up nice and tall in our seats with our hands folded in our laps (or on the desk). In a few minutes, I’m going to ring this chime, and we’re going to listen to the sound until it disappears. I find that I can focus my attention on my hearing best when I close my eyes. You can try that, but if you aren’t comfortable closing your eyes, you can lower your gaze to your hands.” After the students seem collected, ring the bell. Once the ringing has stopped, begin class.

▸ Mindful walking: During transition periods, instruct students to pay particular attention to the way they walk and how their feet hit the ground (with the heel, then ball of the foot, and then the toes making contact with the floor). Take the class on five- or ten-minute walks to break up instruction or when students seem particularly restless.

▸ Setting intentions: Instruct students to set an intention every morning, such as “I want to challenge myself today” or “I intend to make something positive out of something negative.” Throughout the day, ask students to recall their intention and assess the degree to which they have been honoring it.

▸ Three breaths: Use this strategy when it seems that students are anxious or need a break. Ask students to take three deep breaths with their hands resting on their chests so that they can feel their lungs fill with air.

These strategies can and should be adapted for different age groups. For example, instead of talking about intentionality with younger students, a teacher could start the day by asking students about the good things they hope will happen and what they are going to do to make them happen. At the end of the day, the teacher could ask students to reflect on the day to make connections between their actions and the events that occurred.

Rachel’s Challenge

A particularly powerful tool to help students experience a connection to something greater than self is the series of assemblies and workshops presented by Rachel’s Challenge. These programs center around the story of Rachel Joy Scott, the first student killed in the shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, on April 20, 1999. The story of Rachel Scott provides compelling evidence for students’ most inspirational ideals, such as the belief that one person can make a lasting impact on the world. Furthermore, the presentations themselves use Rachel’s story as a vehicle to teach students directly about altruism, empathy, forgiveness, gratitude, and mindfulness.

Rachel’s Story

Rachel Joy Scott was a normal junior at Columbine High School. She had two older sisters and two younger brothers. She loved to journal and was the lead in the spring play. Like other teenagers, she experienced her share of struggles and worked through the mistakes of adolescence. However, Rachel was also exceptional in many ways.

At a young age, Rachel recognized the importance of her actions and lived every day with purpose. In an essay on her personal code of ethics (Scott, n.d.), Rachel articulated that she sought to be “honest, compassionate, and [look] for the best and beauty in everyone,” and this outlook informed her interactions with others. Because she was empathetic and recognized the value of kindness, she was known for her continual efforts to get to know and be kind to her peers, particularly those struggling socially. In the same essay about ethics, she also noted that while many people doubt their ability to positively impact the world, she felt differently: “My codes may seem like a fantasy that can never be reached, but test them for yourself, and see the kind of effect they have in the lives of people around you. You just may start a chain reaction.” Clearly, she lived her life aware that her actions deeply affected others and intended to create a chain reaction of kindness.

Rachel always seemed aware that she would leave behind a legacy. For example, she made comments to friends and teachers that she would cause positive change in the world and once created a tracing of her hands with a statement that read, “These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott and will someday touch millions of people’s hearts.” However, she also seemed to be aware that her life would end prematurely, and she discussed this premonition with her friends and wrote about it in her journal. Unfortunately, her predictions about her short life came true. Even right before her death, she reiterated to her teacher that she was going to change the world for the better. This prediction has proved to be true as well, and she left behind a legacy through Rachel’s Challenge that has touched the lives of millions of people around the world.

After Rachel’s death, her father, Darrell Scott, began traveling around the United States to tell her story to lawmakers, educators, and students and to advocate that education should focus more on building character and teaching principles like those Rachel valued. Over time, his speeches developed into an assembly and workshop series called Rachel’s Challenge, which teaches others to follow Rachel’s example by embodying the characteristics that came to define her. Since 1999, Rachel’s Challenge has presented to over twenty-two million people, working in one thousand two hundred schools and businesses each year. The effects of Rachel’s Challenge are notable. Teachers and administrators have reported widespread changes in the climate and culture of their schools after students heard Rachel’s story. More exceptionally, Rachel’s Challenge has received hundreds of letters from students who associate the assembly program with their decisions not to take their own lives.

Programs

Rachel’s Challenge offers a variety of programs for schools. Each program tells the story of Rachel Scott and integrates age-appropriate lessons on social and emotional intelligence. These programs challenge students to practice altruism, empathy, forgiveness, gratitude, and mindfulness and use the inspirational ideals embodied in Rachel’s story to encourage such practices. Rachel’s Challenge programs are available in the formats listed in table 2.4.

Table 2.4: Rachel’s Challenge Programs

Program	Recommended Grade Levels	Description
Link Up! Presentation	K–5	The forty-minute elementary Link Up! presentation introduces elementary school students to Rachel Scott and her challenge to reach out to others with deliberate acts of kindness. The presentation is a fun, energetic, interactive assembly that mixes music, video, and activities to tell her story. Students learn about a young girl named Rachel; however, they do not hear or see footage related to the Columbine tragedy or her death. Although appropriate for students in grades K–6, the presentation is most effective with K–5 students.
Kindness & Compassion Club	K–5	The Kindness & Compassion (K & C) Club is a way to involve students in fun, practical activities that keep them engaged in sustaining the culture of kindness portrayed in the Link Up! presentation. All K & C Clubs make Chains of Kindness, chains of paper links created by the students. Each time a student observes an act of kindness by another student, he or she writes that act on a strip of paper and links it to the classroom’s chain. Teachers read the links weekly and acknowledge students for their efforts. At the end of the year, teachers can have a Link Up! party and read some of the links to remind students how they made their school a better place during the year.
Power of One Program	K–5	Developed by elementary school educators and counselors, Power of One is the follow-up program to Kindness & Compassion Club. It follows the same outline as its prerequisite and provides a full year of new lessons and activities. Power of One also adds a section of lessons and activities for students with special needs. There is no mention of Columbine or Rachel’s death in this program. The Power of One reinforces and expands upon the same challenges for elementary students as presented in Kindness & Compassion.
Rachel’s Story Presentation	5–6	This presentation introduces younger middle school students to Rachel’s story and her challenge to deliberately reach out to others with kindness. Rachel’s story is told through the eyes of her family. The Columbine tragedy is introduced at an intensity level appropriate for fifth and sixth graders. Her story shows the profound positive impact students can have on those around them by simply paying attention to the little things they do and say every day. Rachel’s story encourages participants to consider their own behavior.
Rachel’sChallengePresentation	7–12	Conveyed through stories from Rachel’s life and writings, the Rachel’s Challenge presentation shows the profound positive impact we can have on those around us. It demonstrates to the listener the power of deliberately reaching out to others in word and action to start what Rachel called “a chain reaction of kindness and compassion.”
Rachel’s Legacy Presentation	7–12	This sixty-minute follow-up to the Rachel’s Challenge presentation program builds upon the legacy that Rachel inspired in the lives of people around her. Through a series of stories told from the perspective of those whom Rachel touched, the Rachel’s Legacy presentation encourages participants to take specific steps toward making their own positive legacy a reality.
Friends of Rachel Training	5–12	The Friends of Rachel training is designed to help a select group of students (up to one hundred preassigned students) and adults (a minimum of one adult to every ten students) create a club that fosters a permanent culture of kindness and compassion in their school. The training starts with time for participants to share their feelings about Rachel’s story. The bulk of the training discusses why the club is important and provides resources to plan for the club’s first meeting and activity.
Chain Reaction Training	5–12	Chain Reaction is a six-hour, intensive, interactive training that consists of three parts: (1) teaching and processing segments, (2) physical activities, and (3) full- and small-group sharing. Chain Reaction includes a cross-section of a school’s population represented by eighty to one hundred students and twenty to twenty-five adults. It is important to maintain a minimum ratio of one adult to four students throughout the program. The program is designed to promote personal introspection, empathy, community building, and empowerment.
Community Event	6–12, as well as community members	The Community Event introduces Rachel and her story to parents and community members using stories from her life and writings. This event is typically held in the evening. It is similar in content and intensity to the Rachel’s Challenge high school program. The Community Event shows the profound positive impact we have on those around us and demonstrates the power of deliberately reaching out to others to start what Rachel called a “chain reaction of kindness and compassion.”

As seen in table 2.4, Rachel’s Challenge offers a variety of programs in different formats that are appropriate for a range of age levels. Visit rachelschallenge.org for more information.

To illustrate the power of Rachel’s Challenge’s programming, consider the Chain Reaction training designed for middle schoolers and high schoolers. Each Chain Reaction assembly works with around one hundred students and twenty-five adults in a school over a period of six hours. Participants move through teaching and processing segments, physical activities, and full- and small-group sharing sessions. The teaching and processing segments outline major themes of the assembly, including social labeling, appropriate affection, the power of words, isolation, shared experiences, and the ability to start chain reactions within a community. The physical activities (often in the form of cooperative activities; see page 114) forge and deepen community bonds, particularly among students who may not frequently interact in a positive way. Finally, the full- and small-group sharing sessions allow participants to reflect on the content presented during the teaching and processing segments and express their feelings in a safe environment. One particularly powerful activity that occurs during the assembly is Cross the Line, in which presenters call out prompts and ask students to step forward if they relate to what is said. Example prompts range from “I have been embarrassed at school” to “I have seriously considered ending my life.” Such prompts help students recognize they are not alone in their feelings while asking students who do not cross the line to use empathy to consider others’ circumstances.

Summary and Recommendations

This chapter discussed how to foster a connection to something greater than self in students. We provided strategies for the following seven topics: (1) inspirational ideals, (2) altruism, (3) empathy, (4) forgiveness, (5) gratitude, (6) mindfulness, and (7) Rachel’s Challenge. Each of these topics, in some way, encourages students to think beyond themselves or to use introspection to consider and analyze their existing world views.

Although teachers can use the strategies in this chapter in a variety of ways, we recommend the following.

▸ At least once a month, present students with inspirational movie clips or videos and have them discuss the ideals they represent.

▸ Incorporate inspirational quotations into the classroom whenever possible, even if this includes providing inspirational quotations to students without comment.

▸ At least once per year, have students engage in an altruistic project.

▸ At least once a semester, use strategies related to empathy, forgiveness, gratitude, or mindfulness.

The following scenario depicts how these recommendations might manifest in the classroom.

A middle school science teacher wants to help her students experience a connection to something greater than self. When presenting new content, she provides biographical information about relevant scientists using movie clips and short reading assignments and asks students to articulate the ideals represented in them. She also posts an inspirational quote each Monday, which she calls the Quote of the Week, though she does not always directly discuss the quote with students. She tries to choose quotes that are relevant to what is occurring in class—for example, she chooses a quote on the importance of practice during a week leading up to a formal assessment. For an end-of-the-year project, the teacher decides to have students apply their knowledge to develop altruistic projects that benefit local ecosystems. Groups choose to address topics such as erosion near a local stream, damage done by off-trail hiking, and litter in a local park. The teacher serves as an advocate for students but allows them to develop and lead the projects. After the projects are completed, the teacher has students relate their projects to previously learned content and reflect on how they contributed to their communities.