These Learning Links provide ten quick-and-easy, five-minute mini-lessons to promote student thought and dialogue about service and civic engagement. You may use as many of them as you wish, and in whatever order best meets your needs and the interest of your students. The purpose of these mini-lessons is to provide a deeper understanding of philanthropy (the giving of time, talent, and treasure for the common good) and to reinforce the lesson focus. These Learning Links also promote the development of character traits, civic engagement, and student leadership. As appropriate to your grade level, it is recommended that students play an active leadership role in presenting these mini-lessons to their classmates.

1. Read: Lots of people like to wear baseball-style hats. Have you heard about a young man by the name of Anthony Leanne? He gives hats like these away to help other people. Anthony’s grandmother was very sick. She had to stay in the hospital for long periods of time. Anthony would go to visit her. In the hospital, he noticed that a lot of people had lost their hair. He later found out that it was because of the medicine they had to take. A lot of these people were children. So Anthony decided that he would buy some new hats. He would give them away to these people in the hospital. He started an organization called Heavenly Hats. Since he began he has donated over 80,000 hats to over 250 hospitals throughout the United States. When asked why he does this, Anthony replied, "I wanted to provide comfort, warmth and kindness to people who were going through a very tough time in their lives.”
   
   Discuss: Why do think Anthony felt buying hats was something he had to do? How do you think what we are doing during our service project will provide comfort and kindness to people? Why is providing comfort and kindness to others important?
   http://www.heavenlyhats.com/
   
    
2. Read: Recently an article appeared in one of those newspaper advice columns. It was from a middle school student who would be attending a new high school in the fall. She was asking for advice on how to be popular in her new school. Apparently she was fairly well liked in her old school but she was hoping for more in her new school. She admitted that she wanted to be popular and well liked. The advice she received was as follows. Have a radiant smile and display it often. Be a good listener and when you do talk, say nice things about your new friends and very little about yourself, unless someone asks. Get involved in school activities early in the school year. But remember -- smile! Know that a smile adds a great deal of “face value”.
   
   Discuss: What is your opinion of this advice? As we think about our friendships and being a friend, how might this advice be true for us? It is often said that to have a friend, you need to be a friend. How might our service event help us practice our friendship skills? How might it be possible that our involvement in our service project will make us more popular? More well-liked?
   
    
3. Read: Throughout history there have been many famous walls. Perhaps you have heard of some of them. There’s the Jericho Wall, Wall Street, The Berlin Wall, the Great Wall of China, the Green Monster (left field wall at Fenway Park), The Western (Wailing Wall), and The Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Wall. Walls traditionally are built to separate; to keep unwanted people and things out like a fort or sea wall or to keep people or things in like cattle pens and prisons. Wherever a wall is built there are always two sides to it. The inside and the outside. Depending on which side of the wall you are on will determine your attitude toward it.
   
   There have also been some very famous bridges in history. There is the Golden Gate Bridge, the London Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, The Mackinaw Bridge, and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Bridges are built to connect; to bring people and things together often shortening the distance between them. Someone once summed up their attitude toward walls and bridges this way, “Build bridges instead of walls and you have a friend.” To those who think about and interpret this quote, it’s apparent that if you want a friend you first need to be a friend and then you need to build a bridge.
   
   Discuss: Walls have purposes and so do bridges. Both are important depending on circumstances. However, as we begin our service event, we are all about building bridges. What is it about our planned service event that will help to build bridges? How can we be sure not to “wall” people out from participating in this event? What friendships are we hoping to build and nurture by our involvement in this service project?
   
    
4. Read: Thich Nhat Hanh is a Zen Buddhist Monk. He is also one of the most respected peace activists in the world. Thich tells of a time in 1981 when he and some friends marched in a demonstration for peace. Mindfully and peacefully, their little band of about fifty people walked down the streets of Manhattan in the crowd of marchers. Many people rushed by them with their banners and fists held high in the air chanting, "Disarmament now! Down with nuclear weapons! “Can’t you walk faster?” they would angrily ask as they passed…. but the little band of fifty continued to walk mindfully and peacefully. They learned later that because of their way of walking, they had slowed 300,000 people behind them. Those people then also became more calm and peaceful. Witnesses remember this walk because of a small group in that “March for Peace” who actually practiced peace with every step they took. Thich Nhat Hanh in an interview following the march is quoted as saying, “There is no walk for peace; peace must be the walk. What is important is not the number of miles you walk but the quality of each step you take. Peace always begins with you.”
   
   Discuss: As we think about our service project, how will what we do not only encourage peace, justice, and fairness, but also be peaceful, just, and fair? How might we have a positive impact on those who participate in this event with us? What is meant by Thich Nhat Hanh’s quote, There is no walk for peace; peace must be the walk. What is important is not the number of miles you walk but the quality of each step you take. Peace always begins with you?
   
    
5. Read: On a street corner in Brooklyn, New York, a young man, looking much older than his years, stood wearing a sandwich board. A sandwich board is a type of advertisement composed of two square pieces of board or card board carried by an individual. One piece in front and one piece behind, connected by straps or ropes over the shoulders creates a "sandwich" effect. The words on this young man’s sandwich board read, “I will walk your talk”. In smaller print near the bottom of the board were these words, “Place your cause or ad here. Fees are negotiable.” It was apparent to the pedestrians rushing by, that this person was more than willing to advertise almost anything for almost any amount of money or a meal.
   
   Discuss: Someone once said, “A lot of what is done in the name of philanthropy is done for reasons other than a passion for the cause itself.” Might this be true of the young man in the story? Why or why not? What can we do to avoid not “walking our own talk” during our service event? How can we walk the talk for others?
   
    
6. Read: Walk into any dough nut shop and you’ll see a wide variety of donuts on display. The combinations of frosting, glaze, and toppings not to mention flavors, sizes, and shapes of these pastries provide one with almost too many choices. But no doubt, we all have our favorites. So while we may look at the others and perhaps wonder what they might taste like, we tend to purchase and eat those we are familiar to us.
   
   A number of years ago there was a commercial on TV about two boys and their much younger brother, Mikey. The commercial was about trying to get children to eat different things. Mikey’s older brothers always hesitated about trying anything new when it came to food. They would first test it by having Mikey eat it. Everyone knew, "Mikey will eat anything!” If Mikey ’liked it,’ then the other boys would try it too.
   
   Discuss: How might the wide variety of donuts represent the peoples of the world? How does selecting our favorite donut reflect how we typically choose our friends? How does always selecting our favorite donut reflect how we typically choose the things we like to involve ourselves in? When it comes to our service event, do you think if we try it and like it others might try it and like it too?
   
    
7. Read: “Frown and you frown alone, but smile and the whole world smiles with you.” Many feel that history does not record the origin of this particular saying because it has always been this way.There is much evidence to suggest that smiling is a normal reaction to certain stimuli and occurs regardless of culture. While the saying may be a bit of a stretch, a smile can be very powerful. Wearing a true smile draws people to one another. Sometimes we are admonished to “smile even if it kills you”. But the physiology of a smile would seem to indicate that smiling actually helps you to live better. It has been proven to diffuse a lot of anger and anxiety that are causes of stress related illnesses and even death. Smiling makes your body and mind feel better not to mention the body and mind of those who are the recipients of your smile. We can also smile in other than physical ways. We can become better listeners and less judgmental. We can be polite toward and encouraging of others. We can be patient with ourselves and others allowing for mistakes. We can seek to understand. We can take notice of the little things that mean so much. As someone once said, “Smile! If you can't lift the corners of your lips, let the middle sag."
   
   Discuss: It seems that smiling is such a little thing and yet it makes such a big difference. How might we use our smile during our service event to enhance our planned efforts? How might we use this information to impress upon those who feel that their involvement in our service event is “just too much work”?
   
    
8. Read: Candice raised her hand to answer the teacher’s question. Her question was, “Who invented the first electric light”? Usually she wasn’t always confident about her answers but this time Candice was pretty sure she knew. So when the teacher called on her to answer, she proudly responded, “Humphry Davy!” Everyone in the class started to laugh. Seems that everyone knew that it was Thomas Alva Edison who invented the first electric light bulb. Because the class continued to laugh at her, Candice was embarrassed. She felt like leaving the room. The teacher motioned for the class to settle down. She walked down the row and stood next to Candice’s desk. Handing her the book she was holding, the teacher pointed to a section in the book. Then she asked Candice to read it aloud. Everyone readied themselves to once again burst out in laughter when Candice discovered that she was wrong. Candice began reading from the selection... The first electric light was made in 1800 by Humphry Davy, an English scientist. He experimented with electricity and invented an electric battery. When he connected wires to his battery and a piece of carbon, the carbon glowed, producing light. This is called an electric arc. The class was silent as the teacher walked back to the front of the room. “You see class,” she said as she turned to face them, “Candice really listened to what I asked. I asked who invented the first electric light, not who invented the first electric light bulb!”
   
   Discuss: Why is listening closely to what others say always a good practice? How important a role might “listening closely” play during our service event? At recess time some of Candice’s classmates came up to her and apologized for laughing at her. They felt badly and wanted to make sure that everything was okay. In what ways is our service event about trying to make sure everything is “okay”?
   
    
9. Read: Lukysa uses her wheelchair to get around. When she was seven years old she rode her bike into the street without looking and into the path of an oncoming car. The accident resulted in her being unable to use her legs for the rest of her life. Now that she is twelve years old she has grown accustomed to her wheelchair. But she admits that having to use it limits her in many ways. “I like to do things like the other children are doing, “she says. “But it’s obvious that I can’t do everything. What’s really sad is that a lot of people think because I am in a wheelchair I can’t do anything. I guess you could call it stereotyping.” While Luksya can’t play basketball or soccer like the other children, she is very involved. She is the Student Council representative for her 6th grade class. She plays the flute in the band and sings in the choir. She acts in the school plays, paints and writes haiku, just to mention a few things. “I have overcome my handicap. I just wish other people could.”
   
   Discuss: Are there some things that you are really good at and some things that you are not so good at? Have you ever been teased because you are good or not so good at something? Lukysa said that she has overcome her handicap. What do you think she means by this? In what ways might our service event be a day to overcome stereotypes as well as some of those things that others or we think might limit us?
   
    
10. Read: If asked, most students would say that they don’t care much for rules. They would reason that rules are too restrictive. They tend to limit ones fun and freedom too much. But if these same students thought more deeply about it, they would also have to agree that without rules everyone could find themselves in a lot of unpleasant situations. Have you ever thought about the fact that no “rules” exist in the animal kingdom other than the rules of instinct, speed, and strength. Having these rules pretty much determines what happens to whom. Imagine a human world in which what happens to us would depend solely upon our instincts, our speed, and our strength.
    
    Discuss: If we all lived according to the rules of the animal kingdom, what do you think would happen to people who were not strong or quick to move about? What would someone have to do in order to survive in a world like this? In a civil society, rules protect everyone. They protect the smart and the not so smart, the speedy and the not so speedy, the strong and the not so strong. Rules help our world work effectively and efficiently. How might our service event help our world work more effectively and efficiently?