Reconstructing And Reconnecting Personal And Professional Selves: How Howell's Theory Of Gratitude Improves Education

Discuss about the Reconstructing And Reconnecting Personal And Professional Selves.

Howell's theory of gratitude in education

This study shall conduct discussions related to one of the biggest theories of conducting good teaching and showing the ways how to impart good education to the students. The academic essay of the theorist, that is Howells’ theory of gratitude in education shall be covered and various details related to the theory shall be mentioned. I have been teaching and working as a professor of Psychology in an eminent University. I have done my masters in the area of Student Psychology. I have encountered and faced different kind of students and in due course, I have developed my own style and rectified my faults in the methods used for teaching them. This study shall inherently cover and refer to aspects of the theory developed by Howell and how the theory of gratitude might helped me at a whole, for the development of education and teaching. The study shall relate with what learning and practices might play a great role and help me to be able to find ways by which good level of education can be imparted to the students, understand their problems and help them in all their issues and teach them to be able to overcome those. All these things have ensured the learning and practicing of the ways, to be an effective teacher.  Further, issues that are faced by students (that I have seen during my teaching career) and by which means these issues can be eradicated shall be discussed in various parts in this whole essay. The need of reflection can be understood from the ways that is offers to understand the whole issues mentioned in this study. Reflection has its value in the understanding own abilities and shortcomings and thus, be able to understand the issues faced by students. Different other theories of other eminent scholars shall also be linked with this discussion. The articulation between the theory developed by Howell and the theory of other educators such as Palmer shall also be interlinked in some places in order to get a better understanding of the topic of the decision and better pay a head to the facts which have helped me a lot in my whole of the teaching career. The factors which have played role in the development of my own signature way of teaching in the classes shall also be mentioned and discussed in here.

Howell has been one of the most well-known educators. He had been teaching in  The University of Tasmania, situated in Australia. Howell has considered the element of gratitude and how it plays as one of the most important element in the way of imparting the right kind of education to the students. Howell has identified the fact that gratitude has to be developed by the students in order to be able to act as more communicative and more interactive between themselves (Howells, 2012). It can be pointed out that resentment among the minds and hearts towards others have to be eradicated and the element of gratitude has to be inculcated by the students in their minds. Resentment shall never help in understanding each other and thus does not ensure any kind of cooperation between the students (www.kerryhowells.com, 2018). This harms their overall interest towards their study and the learning process and thus in this manner, hampers their education. Gratitude has to be felt towards the good things that are available and the things for what we are getting benefits. Rather it has to be understood that having resentment towards others and other things and having a complaining attitude for everything may never help us or the students, thus harming the overall environment of the imparting of the education (Howells, 2014). If the students are complaining and grudging always, they shall not be able to make utilization of their full abilities and may not learn even by cooperating in some kind of hard atmosphere and even in lack of some elements that are required for education (Smilansky, 2012).

Inculcating gratitude in students

Gratitude has to be inculcated inside the students by the role played by both teachers and parents. I have felt that sometimes I have not been able to helps the student and so, by learning from the theory of Howell, the technique to be used to make the parents learn the need and technique of improving essence of gratitude in the mind of their children, I have taught and shown to parents how to increase gratitude among minds of their students. The students and parents have practiced bringing gratitude in a joint manner (Howells, 2014). The parents had to feel gratitude towards their children, the element of gratitude being a downstream kind of entity. It has to be passed on from elders to young ones. The parents learned to inculcate gratitude and consider the importance of their children to their life. Same things were being done by the students towards their parents. This factor helped a lot in improving their ability to learn and grow gratitude and positive learning spirit inside of their hearts (Waters, 2012). Gratitude helps the students to be more attentive and to be able to grasp what is being taught or is happening around them and find a positive spirit in all of the things that they see around them or try to learn from them. The factor of resentment never helps in the true awakening of the self and this this factor destroys the line of education that is being practiced and preached between the students and the teacher (Emmons & Crumpler, 2015). These kind of issues were faced by me while teaching, and so I could deduce upon the importance of gratitude that the student need to have towards their teachers, parents and the other fellow students, their whole system of education and thus complaining about everything without even having the positive spirit to adjust to the situation or solve the issue (Howells, 2013).

In order to be able to understand the essence of gratitude in the minds of and hearts of teachers for their students and the students having gratitude for their teachers, another theory of another eminent scholar has to be pointed out here. The Identity and Integrity in teaching by Palmer helps in explaining the roles played by identity and integrity. Identity has its overall existence in the different kind of opposite forces that helps in forming and defining life (Bukor, 2015). While integrity inherently has the purpose to connect to those positive forces in order attain a wholesomeness in this overall absurd life of humans. Without integrity and identity in the line of teaching also, the success cannot be achieved. students and teachers have to be known each other better and the teachers has to understand what he is a teaching and how the students are being able to grasp the things that are being taught by him. Here also comes the essence of gratitude. If students have gratitude towards the teachers, then may be able to easily grasp the things that are being taught by the teacher (Howells & Cumming, 2012). This combined role of identity, integrity and gratitude as driving forces for ensuring good education, I have been able to make use of them to be able to have good rapport with my students and be able to communicate with them properly, understand their issues and take up various kind of steps in order to get them solved. It has to be understood that, the right kind of teaching should have a combination of intellectual, emotional and spiritual elements as discussed by Palmer in his theory of identity and integrity (Palmer, 2017). A balance of all the three elements have to be maintained. A teaching style only with intellectual basis shall be turned to a cold abstraction in the class. The use of only emotional elements shall bring a kind of sick and nauseating air of narcissism in the class (Palmer, 2011). The element of all spiritual things shall lose its base from the reality and the world. Thus, a balanced combination of the three has to be inculcated by teacher in his teaching style in order to be able to deliver right kind and style of education to the students. Thus, it has to be also perceived that all these elements help in the process of bringing in or including gratitude towards teacher. If the teacher does not have the right kind of attitude then students shall not be grateful towards him, thus making the learning environment strange and uncomfortable. Thus, in this manner, the scene of gratitude has to be made functional between the students and the teachers. Learning these things helps me to make my students learn in better manner, ensure gratitude from them. My teaching also developed a further when I was being able to feel gratitude towards them also.

Conclusion

The study has talked about the value of Gratitude and what kind of role it plays in determining the right kind and quality of education. I have tried a hard for many years to learn how to be a good teacher and interact properly with my students, but could master it to certain extent. The studying and consideration of the theory of gratitude by Howell shall help me a lot to understand the ways by which good education among the students can be endured. It shall have helped me a lot of way to be a more educated in the future.

References

Bukor, E. (2015). Exploring teacher identity from a holistic perspective: Reconstructing and reconnecting personal and professional selves. Teachers and Teaching, 21(3), 305-327.doi:10.1080/13540602.2014.953818

Dr Kerry Howells – Academic Research into Gratitude. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.kerryhowells.com/

Emmons, R. A., & Crumpler, C. A. (2015). Gratitude as a human strength: Appraising the evidence. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19(1), 56-69.doi:10.1521/jscp.2000.19.1.56

Gratitude contribution and ethical theory. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248944151_Gratitude_contribution_and_ethical_theory

Howells, K. (2012). Gratitude in education: A radical view. Springer Science & Business Media.

Howells, K. (2014). An exploration of the role of gratitude in enhancing teacher–student relationships. Teaching and Teacher Education, 42, 58-67.doi:10.1016/j.tate.2014.04.004

Howells, K. (2014). Exploring cultural diversity through the lens of the practice of gratitude in education. The International Journal of Diversity in Education, 13(2), 41-52. Retrieved from https://ecite.utas.edu.au

Howells, K. M. (2013). The role of gratitude in helping school leaders strengthen relationships. Perspectives on educational leadership, 6, 1-3. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net

Howells, K., & Cumming, J. (2012). Exploring the role of gratitude in the professional experience of pre-service teachers. Teaching Education, 23(1), 71-88.doi:  10.1080/10476210.2011.638370

Palmer, P. J. (2011). The heart of a teacher identity and integrity in teaching. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 29(6), 14-21.doi:10.1080/00091389709602343

Palmer, P. J. (2017). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher's life. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.in

Smilansky, S. (2012). Gratitude, contribution and ethical theory. Critical Review Of International Social And Political Philosophy, 5(4), 34-48. doi: 10.1080/13698230410001702722

Waters, L. (2012). Predicting job satisfaction: Contributions of individual gratitude and institutionalized gratitude. Psychology, 3(12), 1174.doi:10.4236/psych.2012.312A173