1 “Attitude can shift with gratitude,” Mr. Bright, my leadership teacher, stated.

2 “Unless you have nothing to be grateful for . . . ,” I thought to myself.

3 Mr. Bright went on to explain, in complicated scientific terms, that gratitude helps the brain release chemicals that make people feel happy. Then he handed a pocket-sized notebook to each student and assigned a gratitude challenge to our class. Apparently it would be our project for this grading period. We were supposed to fill each line of the notebook with something for which we were grateful. He suggested we write 10 items per day.

4 I slumped in my chair, highly disinterested in this challenge. I was not the least bit interested. My mind was replaying the last 24 hours. During my baseball game the night before, I had hurt my wrist, and the doctor told me exactly what I hadn’t wanted to hear.

5 “Playing baseball right now will just injure that wrist more, Simone, so you need to take eight weeks off,” he had said. With only seven weeks left in the season, I was devastated. I had played on the Astros since kindergarten and couldn’t be out that long.

6 I was so sad, it’s all I could think about: no practice, no games, and a hurt wrist. I felt like my year was ruined, and by evening, I hadn’t written anything in my notebook. I crawled into bed and scribbled my dog, knowing that I would need to add to the list tomorrow if I didn’t want to get a failing grade on the assignment.

7 The next morning, I carried my notebook with me to the breakfast table. My brother had already served my plate, so I wrote kind brother. On the ride to school, the radio was playing a great song, and I quickly jotted down pop music. Later when my English teacher handed me a quiz that I had done well on, I wrote 98% in English. By the time I got home from school, I had logged 14 items!

8 The next day, I busily looked for things to include. I noticed how much I actually had to be grateful for. The list kept getting longer, and I realized I was having fun. I was definitely thinking less about my wrist and all the baseball that I was missing.

9 When I submitted the journal, I was sure that I would pass my leadership class, but even more importantly, I was confident that I could cheer for my friends at the game that night. My brain apparently needed a little refocus.

11.
Read the short story “Gratitude.” Based on the information in the story, write a response to the following:



Explain how gratitude can affect a person’s life.



Write a well-organized informational composition that uses specific evidence from the story to support your answer.



Remember to —

clearly state your controlling idea.
organize your writing.
develop your ideas in detail.
use evidence from the selection in your response.
use correct spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.


Manage your time carefully so that you can —

review the selection.
plan your response.
write your response.
revise and edit your response.

Write your response in the box provided.

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