Writing Assignment: Gratitude

This lesson uses a beautiful and moving video by time-lapse film-maker Louis Schwartzberg and encompasses the themes of gratitude, beauty and nature. Students will write sentences about gratitude, speak about what they are grateful for, watch a video, and write a short composition.

Original Lesson found on Film English and modified for use in Mrs. White's Classes

Downloadable original lesson materials: gratitude lesson instructions from Film English

Step 1

Look at the word written on the board.

GRATEFUL

What does the word mean. 

Now, write a sentence or two, which shows the meaning or feeling of the word.

HERE is an example sentence:

I’m really grateful for having a loving family.

NOTE:  Your sentence(s) should show or help the reader feel THANKS. In other words, try to elicit the meaning (feeling or showing thanks).

Step 2

Think about what you have to be grateful for and write 10 sentences.  Each sentence should start: 

I'm grateful for...

Sample Sentence:

I’m grateful for the friends I have.

I’m grateful for having a job I like.

Step 3

Share your sentences with your group and compare the things you are grateful for. 

Step 4

Groups will share the items that were similar on everyone's list and ones that were different. 

Are there any common themes we see in all the groups?  Are the things you are grateful generally big ideas/concepts or small.

Step 5

Watch the video entitled Gratitude.

Review:  Gratitude is an abstract noun from grateful. 

Note: The person who presents the video is the film-maker Louis Schwartzberg.

After viewing the film answer the following questions:

How does Louis describe his films?

What is time-lapse photography?

What does Louis say we can learn from nature?

What does Louis say we should be grateful for?

What’s the girl’s perspective of nature?

Do you like the young girl’s perspective and do you think it is a typical perspective of a young child.

What does the elderly man say we should be grateful for?

 
What does the elderly man say we should open how hearts to?

OPITIONAL: Watch and pause to answer the questions as they are  presented.

Step 6

Share answers.

Step 7

Use the following quotations from the video:

“When we see ourselves in nature, it connects us to every one of us, because it's clear it's all connected in one.”

“You think it’s just another day. It’s not just another day. It’s the one day that’s given to you today. It’s given to you; it’s a gift.”

Which of the two quotes speaks to you?  Why? 

 Composition TIME:

Title:  "What I’m grateful for"

Introductory Sentences:

     Gratitude can be defined as the act of being thankful, and in the video "Gratitude" by Louis Schwartzberg an elderly man has this to say on the subject, “You think it’s just another day. It’s not just another day. It’s the one day that’s given to you today. It’s given to you; it’s a gift.”   Through this simple statement the man reminds each of us that we are given so many "gifts", but sometimes we take these gifts for granted, and  in so doing, don't show our gratitude.  Sadly, there have been times in my own life that I have not shown gratitude for the gifts I have been given.

NOTE:  You have the option of developing your own opening sentences, but they must include the quote.

Make sure to use transitions to start each example (see list below):

Use three examples of "gifts" you sometimes take for granted:

Example  One: two to three sentences to explain

Example  Two: two to three sentences to explain

Example  Three: two to three sentences to explain

Note:  You can use more than three examples.

Concluding Sentence:

Option One:

Unfortunately, as the writer,  Cynthia Ozick states, “We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude,” but hopefully by recognizing that these are "gifts", and should be appreciated each and every day, we can thereby avoid taking them for granted, and instead, show our gratitude for having them in our lives.

 or

Option Two:

Hopefully, by recognizing that our lives are filled with so many "gifts" we can be like Piglet from Winnie-the-Pooh when he “....noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Transition Words

Words that can be used to show location:

above	behind	by	near	throughout
across	below	down	off	to the right
against	beneath	in back of	onto	under
along	beside	in front of	on top of
among	between	inside	outside
around	beyond	into	over

Words that can be used to show time:

while	first	meanwhile	soon	then
after	second	today	later	next
at	third	tomorrow	afterward	as soon as
before	now	next week	about	when suddenly
during	until	yesterday	finally

Word that can be used to compare two things:

likewise	also	while	in the same way
like	as	similarly

Words that can be used to contrast two things:

but	still	although	on the other hand
however	yet	otherwise	even though

Words that can be used to emphasize a point:

again	truly	especially	for this reason
to repeat	in fact	to emphasize

Words that can be used to conclude or summarize:

finally	as a result	to sum up	in conclusion
lastly	therefore	all in all	because

Words that can be used to add information:

again	another	for instance	for example
also	and	moreover	additionally
as well	besides	along with	other
next	finally	in addition

Words that can be used to clarify:

that is

for instance

in other words

Other list of Transition Words:

Grammar Your Dictionary

Multiple Paragraph List of Transition Words

OWL Online Writing Lab

Interesting Article about Gratitude:  Click Here

Opening Statement from Article:

In the season of thanks, I recently had my Harvard freshman seminar class take inventory of all they're grateful for. The responses were fairly predictable: family, friends, significant others, pets, jobs, opportunities. There were a few endearing surprises, including one student who was appreciative of his comforter, another her fuzzy hat. I had to smile at those ones.-Huffington Post

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This I Believe: The Beatles Live On...

This I Believe...

The Beatles Live On... Click Here

Music, Memory, and Macklin's Dad

What can you learn from listening to the lyrics of the Beatles according to Macklin Levine?

What happened three years ago?

What was the only music Macklin's family could agree to listen to in the car?  Click Here

What did the Macklin family lose?

What did Macklin's dad do to help find what they had lost?

Did they find they had lost?  If so how?

What tragic event happened a few months later?

Why does Macklin believe in the Beatles?

Extra:
 Click Here to listen to Yellow Submarine

Also used in connection with The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton Chapter 3:  Click Here

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Short Film: Margo Lily

After looking at the picture, what do you think this story will be about?  Now, watch the film.

Margo Lily from Dane Clark & Linsey Stewart on Vimeo.

1.     What are these two people doing?  Why do you think they are doing this   activity? (Initiating Event)

Stop the film at 45 seconds and answer the first question.  Continue the film after hearing student responses.

2.     After hearing the steps read by the woman, what do you think has happened?

Skip between 2:30-2:37 continue the film

3.     What has gone wrong with their plan?

4.     What is the climax of the story?

5.     How does the couple solve the problem?

6.     Why do you think they needed to carry through with their original plan?

7.     Write a one sentence summary of "Margo Lily".

8.     What is the universal conflict of the film?

9.     What is the mood of this piece?

10.    What is the theme of this short film?

11.    The tree is a METAPHOR for what?

Summary:

A couple goes ahead with a placenta burial ceremony in their backyard despite suffering a stillbirth. But with the earth frozen, their conflicting emotions surface when they can't dig a hole. Not willing to give up, they find an unlikely way to help heal their broken hearts.

Further commentary on the short film:

Margo Lily

A couple comes to terms with the loss of their child.

It's not terribly difficult to make a sad film. All you need is a forlorn character and their struggle against either themselves, or some external factor. What's more difficult is to develop a sense of hope in both audience and protagonist after a prolonged period of difficulty. Dave Clark and Linsey Stewart's 'Margo Lily' does that wonderfully.

The film follows the lives of a couple trying to come to terms with the loss of their unborn child. The event itself happened some time before we meet the pair, as they try to commemorate the passing by burying the foetus under a tree. But they have a problem, the ground is frozen. While the man thinks they abandon the project, his partner insists they continue. The fissure in the relationship creates this huge vacuum for tenderness and understanding, which is filled from a seriously unlikely source.

Where 'Margo Lily' succeeds is in its ability to highlight the smaller aspects of what keeps two people together in the face of tragic events. The cinematography maintains a tight focus on both characters at all times, relying purely on facial expression and darkness to give the story its emotional tone. At times 'Margo Lily' is a sombre film, but through a little comic relief, it becomes one of hope and optimism, and not some broken record of pain and suffering.

Written By: Matthew Hussey

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Nonfiction: StoryCorps "Listening is an Act of Love" & "Icing on the Cake"

Listening Is an Act of Love from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

The first-ever animated feature from StoryCorps celebrates the transformative power of listening. Listening Is an Act of Love: A StoryCorps Special presents six stories from 10 years of the innovative oral history project, where everyday people sit down together to ask life's important questions. Framing these intimate conversations from across the country is an interview between StoryCorps founder Dave Isay and his nine-year-old nephew, Benji, animated in the inimitable style of The Rauch Brothers.

Listening Is an Act of Love will be broadcast by public television stations nationwide throughout the holiday season. Stations will be airing the special on varying dates through February 2014.

Questions:

I will stop the video between each story.  Develop a question to use from each conversation.  

The Icing on the Cake from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

Blanca Alvarez and her husband risked crossing the border to immigrate into the U.S. and then struggled to make ends meet. They hoped to shelter their children from these harsh realities, but Blanca's daughter Connie reveals how much children can really see of their parents' lives—and the inspiration they draw from their struggles.

Questions:

Develop two questions to use after viewing "Icing on the Cake"

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The Writing Whisperer
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