The Ultimate Gift

“In the end, a person is only known by the impact he or she has on others.”  – Jim Stovall

I wish I could remember how I came across The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall.  All I can remember is that it happened in my earlier years as a teacher.  I can remember that because I requisitioned the books for my class, and was told that if I wanted a class set, I would have to buy them myself.  I was a new teacher, and I certainly was not in any kind of financial position to spend that kind of money on a class set of books.  But I did (almost $300 of my own money), and then begged the librarian to work her magic (you know, the one which prolongs the life of hardcover books).

It’s been almost a decade since I first made that decision, and education has changed a lot since then.  There is an increased focus on standards – the justification being that by focusing on those, students will be able to transfer the skills across content, and I get it.  But, as an English teacher who used to dream of sharing her passion for reading and literature with her students, it’s been a challenging shift.  It almost feels forbidden to talk about literature for the sake of the messages deep in the pages of a book.

That’s why I LIVE for the weeks between Thanksgiving Break and Winter Break!  It provides the golden opportunity for me to share The Ultimate Gift with my students!  As Amazon.com sells it, “An inspirational story of what truly matters in life.”

Absolutely, we worked on words in context (standard 10.4), command of evidence (standard 10.1), and summary (10.2). It is, after all, my job to make sure students are getting the appropriate practice with those skills and standards.

Breakdown of Activities by Gift:

• The Gift of Work  – Vocabulary Activity
• The Gift of Money – Reflective Journal
• The Gift of Problems – Reflective Journal
• The Gift of Learning – Created a Visual of Quotes depicting the importance of learning, education, and knowledge
• The Gift of Family – Rainbow Talk (walk & talk activity) & Circle-Up
• The Gift of Gratitude – created a Golden List of things which we are grateful for and why
• The Gift of Giving – Command of Evidence Activity
• The Gift of Love- Double-Entry Journal Identifying and Solving Roadblocks
• The Gift of a Perfect Day- Double-Entry Journal Identifying and Solving Roadblocks
• The Gift of Laughter –  CER, Walk & Talk, & Circle Up
• The Gift of Dreams – Dream Collage on Google Slides
• The Gift of a Day – Double-Entry Journal Identifying and Solving Roadblocks
• The Ultimate Gift – movie note-catcher

But – those skills and standards are not what students took away from The Ultimate Gift unit, and likely will not be what they remember the most from this unit.

In their own words:

• Ms. Sabbagh did her students wonders by sharing The Ultimate Gift. In this generation wealth, clothes, money, cars, houses all define you. If you live in a crappy house the school environment especially at this age made it out to be that you’re just a crappy person too. The idea of what you have and what you don’t have creates a wedge on how people see you. The Ultimate Gift proved that building your character Is more essential than any gift you can have. Once you have acquired and expanded on the characteristic skills, you’ll be more prepared to have and use the “things” you have more usefully. The overall purpose of the story, from my perspective, is that building your character is more precious and can take you places compared to object we want.
• The purpose of sharing The Ultimate Gift was probably to show the value of the simple things in life. Jason, in both the book and movie, took his blessings for granted, and in the end he progressed into a better person. The Ultimate Gift depicted the importance of gratitude and all sorts of lessons. It also showed how much of the events that occur in our life that we don’t appreciate until they’re gone. This story was good in which it served as a calling to do more good in the world and be thankful more often.
• The purpose of sharing The Ultimate Gift with me is to appreciate everything and remind me that gifts are not always something that we can touch, but also love, family, and learning. Everything in life should be valued and we should try to learn something new everyday.
• The purpose of sharing The Ultimate Gift and I’m so very happy that you shared this with me was the point that there is more to life then money and we can learn a lot. I think you shared this story with the class because our generation is becoming very phone, materialistic, money-based society, and we and forgetting about the true way to daily happiness in life. I took the book to heart, and really reflect often… can’t wait to have my own copy of the book!
• The purpose of sharing The Ultimate Gift with us was to make us think of all of the gifts that we have in our life. The Ultimate Gift depicts all of the things that we have to be thankful for and all of the great lessons that we learn throughout life. The Ultimate Gift demonstrates why we should appreciate all of the situations that life has to give us, whether good or bad. This lesson is very important, and something that high-schoolers like myself need to learn.
• The purpose of sharing The Ultimate Gift with us was to remind us of the values of life, so that maybe we could apply them to our own lives. It’s easy to forget these essentials when times are rough, but this story served as a good reminder.

By the numbers:

• I love that you are continuously trying to teach us how important it is to take responsibility for your life and to always try your best. Thanks for being so supportive.
• It was a great book to read because it was an eye opener.
• Thank you so much for sharing The Ultimate Gift with us, it will make an impact on each and everyone of us in different ways. 🙂

Sabbagh Shout-Outs:

• To all the students who read aloud with panache! (Even if I did bribe you with meme stickers) – specifically AliRida, Andrew, Ghadeer, Hamade, Taleb, Matilda, Olivia, Cailey, Chloe, Owen, & Fetena – Thank you!
• To all the students who reacted aloud when we were reading; whether it was a gasp, a giggle, or a guffaw – you literally made my day with your audible engagement
• To the students who had a blast during the Rainbow Talk for the Gift of Family.  It was my favorite relationship building day.
• To all the students who were grieving after the loss of Osman (which came after the Gift of Family, and right before the Gift of Laughter) – your heart, compassion, and sensitivity humbled me. #osmanstrong
• To all the students who took the time to go above and beyond on the lessons and projects throughout this unit

When we get back from break it’s going to be all final exam prep and the frenzy preparing for the new semester.  But tonight, as I reflect on the joy of sharing The Ultimate Gift with my students, I am just so grateful.  Thank you and enjoy your break!

P.S.  Obviously I learned how to add bitmoji as an extension to my chromebook.  I don’t even want to tell you how I was adding them to my blog before.  Hope you enjoyed them!