In my second LIVE Wednesday Writing Workshop (streamed on Facebook and Instagram), I responded to viewer requests to discuss semicolons and dashes. But I delivered that grammar lesson via a session on gratitude. We wrote gratitude statements as a way to practice using semicolons and appositives.
This second live writing workshopped build off the first in which we wrote affirmations as a way to practice writing grammatically correct sentences.
These workshops were also both based on activities in the Kaleidoscope workbook, which was originally created for elementary school children, but I adapted it just fine for the adults of varying ages who tuned in and participated in these live writing workshop sessions.
It has been a deeply rooted philosophy of mine since I started teaching high school English courses that we can more readily build self-esteem and improve literacy if we combine those two initiatives into the same experience. This is one of the things I believe in most and that is a central pillar of my pedagogy even today as a university professor.
Gratitude Statements During a Pandemic?
This session was especially important because it was early in the COVID-19 quarantine, stay at home, social distancing orders. We had to really be more proactive than normal about focusing on what we’re grateful for.
Within all of the positivity, spiritual, self-help content I constantly immerse myself in, I learned that it is often when we are the least motivated to think positively, that positive thinking makes the biggest difference in our mood, behavior, and life!
So during this time when it was so easy to get bogged down with fear and negative thinking and grief, this workshop was much needed.
Homework: If you haven’t already, start a Gratitude Journal! You can fill it with infinite phrases that begin with:
- I am grateful for ___.
- I am grateful that ___.
- I am grateful to ___.
- I am thankful for ___.
Affirmation: You are worthy of good things.