the gratitude project assignment :: dylan...

Our ongoing series of essays from Grade 8 students from Broadview Public School here in Ottawa.  I had the pleasure of meeting with Ms. Viner and Ms. Krochmalnek's classes just before our Canadian Thanksgiving, to talk to them about *the gratitude project: dare to be grateful*. (Read more about that here.) Students were then given an assignment to interview a friend or family member about what they were grateful for, and to submit a short essay based on that interview.   I will be publishing a selection of these essays here on the blog over the next couple of weeks.  You will want to read these.  Seriously. These kids rock.

(Read Julia's essay here, Minseong and Judy's essays here and O'Dane and Evan's essays here.)

Now, let's see what Dylan learned on his assignment...

Interviewer:  Dylan

Interviewee: Steacy

Brief Biography:

My Mom is very close to me and we have had lots of experiences together. From some of these experiences, I've noticed that she has to make a lot of tough decisions like when she decided to go to teachers college and become a teacher even though she would have to work much more often. I thought about it and I knew that she had to have made some decisions that she’s really grateful for. That is why I chose my Mom for this project.

Question:

What decision are you most grateful for?

 
1.      My Mom's first decision that she is really grateful for is her decision to join the purification challenge when she was young. This was a group of kids that had to run a certain amount of distance every week. By doing this challenge, my Mom figured out that she was a good runner and she joined cross country and had a lot of fun. She stills enjoys running now and it is one of the reasons she can stay fit.

2.      Another decision that my Mom is grateful for is her decision to work when she was in university. She is grateful for this decision because this helped her pay for school. She is also grateful for this because it helped her organize herself so she wouldn't just party with her friends every night.

3.      The last decision that my Mom is really grateful for is her decision to go to Europe with her sister for 2 weeks in 2010. My Mom is grateful for that decision because even though she was away from her family for 2 weeks and it cost a lot of money, she was really glad because it was very interesting seeing all the foreign countries and exploring the world.  She also had a lot of fun.

Conclusion:

Upon reflection, I think that my Mom was really thinking deeply about my questions and taking them seriously.  My Mom wasn't very resistive of my questions and answered them without any pushing. I think that my Mom was running out of answers by the last example but I do think she was grateful for the decision.

 

I can connect with her first decision, since my soccer team has to run 3 kilometres every practice for the past 2 years. This I am grateful for because now my dad, Mom and I go for after dinner runs sometimes for fun.  If I hadn't been running, I wouldn't have learned to enjoy it and would be missing the great family talks we have on our runs.