I’m sure this isn’t a surprise to anybody, but The NY Times just published the results of a study finding that people receiving thank you letters cared about their warmth, not how well they were worded (see You Should Actually Send That Thank You Note You’ve Been Meaning to Write).

That may be obvious to most of us, but may not be as clear to our students.

Each Thanksgiving, I do A Simple & Effective Classroom Lesson On Gratitude, which is actually one of the all-time most popular posts on this blog.  In it, I describe how students write a thank you note to someone and often make a phone call, as well.

I think mentioning this study might help make students more comfortable doing the activity.

I’m adding this info to The Best Resources On “Gratitude.”