Learning to Give, Philanthropy education resources that teach giving and civic engagement
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Purpose:
This lesson will help students understand the importance of sharing their talents with others. While written for a Catholic Elementary School, this lesson may be easily adapted for public school use .
Duration:
Three Thirty-Minute Class Periods
Objectives:
The learner will:
- reflect on personal skills, interests, and talents.
- read about how people share their talents with others.
- demonstrate one talent to the class.
Service Experience:
Each student will evaluate his or her talents and choose one to share with the class. As a further extension, students may demonstrate their skill for someone outside the classroom through an actual service project or simply by sharing the class video.
Materials:
- Sharing Our Gifts (Attachment One)
- Demonstrating Talents (Attachment Two)
- Video camera
- Camera
- Paper
- Student props
Instructional Procedure(s):
Anticipatory Set:
Write these two sentences on the board:
“ What you are is God’s gift to you. What you become is your gift to God.”
Or for a public school: “You have many gifts. What gifts will you give to the world?”
Have students explain what the statements mean to them.
- Explain that philanthropy is the giving and sharing of time, talent, or treasure intended for the common good. Sometimes people think they have no special talents, but that is only because they don’t see the things they do as talents. Ask students to silently think about what they can do that is a talent.
- Distribute Sharing Our Gifts (Attachment One) which gives examples of people sharing to help others. Discuss the examples and classify them according to whether they are giving of time, talent, or treasure (or a combination). Discuss why a person might give or volunteer.
- Ask the following questions to initiate a class discussion about personal strengths and interests that could be shared for the common good:
- What do you want to be when you grow up?
- What are you interested in?
- What do you like to do?
- How could you use your time or talent to help someone else?
- Why is it important or desirable to share your talents with others?
- What do you want to be when you grow up?
- Have students make a plan to demonstrate to the rest of the class a particular skill or talent they have. Distribute the worksheet, Demonstrating Talents (Attachment Two), for students to use as a guide. (This activity may be sent home to be completed with parents or guardians.)
- Have students demonstrate their talents or skills to the class. They should use a visual aid, talk loud enough to be heard, and present the skill in a logical way. These presentations may be videotaped to show to another class or to take home for family viewing. Photograph each student for the extension activity. (Parental permission may be required before taking visual images of students.)
- After the presentations, brainstorm ways that students can use their skills and talents to help someone in the school or community. Challenge students to find a way to share their talents.
Assessment:
Assess the student demonstrations for organization, use of a visual aid, ability to be heard, and their ability to choose and explain their talent or skill.
School/Home Connection:
Optional: students take turns bringing home the videotape of the demonstrations.
Cross-Curriculum Extensions:
Make a talent book for the classroom library. Using the photos that the teacher took of each student sharing his or her talent with the class, the students will each make a page for the book. Students should write three sentences about their skill or talent. These may be typed in computer class.
Lesson Developed By:
Valerie WilliamsCatholic Diocese of Grand Rapids
St. Alphonsus Elementary School
Grand Rapids, MI 49505
Handouts:
Handout 1Print Handout 1
Sharing Our Gifts
- Frances is a nurse. She works in a hospital. One of her hobbies to do in her spare time is to grow and care for plants. Once a month, on one of her days off, she works with elderly people, teaching them how to grow and care for plants at the local senior citizens center.
- Joe is single and he works as an accountant. He loves the game of football. Every fall, he volunteers his time to coach a seventh- and eighth-grade football team for the city recreation center. They have practice three evenings a week, and Joe is at all the games on Saturdays.
- Julie loves to read. She is retired and has twelve grandchildren. She is very good at telling stories. Twice a week she volunteers for story hour at the library. She tells stories and reads poems to young children. She shares her love of reading with others.
- Patrick loved to write stories as he was growing up. He entered many writing contests and won several awards. He is now an editor of a large-city newspaper. He goes to the high school in town--once every two weeks--to talk to students about his job and to teach them skills to improve their writing.
- Dan listens to public radio every day. He loves to hear the news and the talk shows that teach about issues and events around the world. He wants to support the programming and hopes that everyone will have the chance to listen to public radio. Every year, he gives money to the local station.
Handout 2Print Handout 2
Demonstrating Talents
What are you good at? What do you like to do with your time? Make a list. It may help to think about things that you have helped others do.
Choose one thing for your demonstration. List the steps for completing or performing the skill.
Draw a picture of yourself sharing your talent with someone.
Make a flyer describing the process of your skill. Words must be typed. Include pictures and an eye-catching format.
Unit Contents:
Overview:This I Can Do! Summary
Lessons:
- 1.
- Talent
- 2.
- Stewardship and the Rainforest
- 3.
- Day in the Life of a Homeless Person (A)
- 4.
- Why Volunteer?
- 5.
- Create a Volunteer Spirit
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to freely use this information for nonprofit (noncommercial), educational purposes only. Copyright must be acknowledged on all copies.
Comments
(The positive aspect of using this lesson was) It was very engaging. Kids were eager to share.
(The positive aspect of using this lesson was) teaches the kids to look for ways to help others. Helped them to see their own strengths and others'.
(The positive aspect of using this lesson was) that as the students watched others present, they found that they too may have that talent and have never thought of it as such.
(The positive aspect of using this lesson was) the students loved sharing their talents with their classmates.