I’m about to start my second year as a Release Time Seminary substitute. It is my dream job and I absolutely love it. One thing that I don’t love is that most of the calls I get to sub are last minute. So, I have been preparing what I like to call “Last Minute Lessons.”
These are lessons that can be used anytime. It doesn’t matter what the kids are studying, these lessons can be applied anytime and usually have low to no prep time. You can check out all my Last Minute Lessons here. Here is an easy lesson all about gratitude.
Have each student grab a journal, paper, or even their phones. Tell them to write for 1 minute about the heavy things they are carrying. What are their biggest worries, doubts, fears, etc. Make sure to let them know they will be the only ones seeing the paper.
Stop after 1 minute. Now ask them to write for 1 minute about how they feel.
Next, tell students to look around the room and find all the things you can that are blue. After they had a few minutes to do so, tell them them close their eyes and list all the things they saw that were yellow. They likely won’t be able to do it. That’s because they had focused so intently on the blue that they didn’t even notice the yellow things.
Take a few minutes to discuss how we find what we are looking for. Even when we feel stressed or sad, we can focus on what we are grateful for.
Next tell the students that they are going to make a list of 100 things they are grateful for. They might look worried, but tell them you will help them break it down.
Make a list of:
10 things they are grateful for.
10 people they are grateful for.
10 teachers they are grateful for.
10 things about themselves they are grateful for.
10 trials or struggles they are grateful for.
10 people who lived before them they are grateful for.
10 gospel truths they are grateful for.
10 things that happened this week they are grateful for.
10 things about today they are grateful for.
10 things about their family they are grateful for.
Now ask them to write for 1 minute about how they feel.
Take a few minutes to talk about how drastically our emotions can swing depending on what we focus on.
After that discussion, read or watch the last story in Pres Monson’s talk “Be of Good Cheer” April 2009. It starts at minute 11:33 and runs for about 11 minutes.
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