These "LEAGUE Learning Links” provide ten quick and easy 5-minute mini-lessons to help promote The LEAGUE’s vision and scheduled events in your classroom. You can choose from among these mini-lessons and use as many of them as you would like 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 ones, time, talents, and treasures for the common good) and to promote those philanthropic acts that have been identified as supporting The LEAGUE events. These mini-lessons will also help ensure a deeper understanding of character traits, civic engagement, and promote student leadership. It is recommended that students be encouraged to play as much of a role as possible and appropriate in presenting these lessons to their classmates.

1. Read: The huddle that we see on footballs fields during the fall months had an interesting beginning. History records that it began in Washington D.C. at the Gallaudet College for the Deaf. It seems that during a football game being played in 1894, Gallaudet College’s all deaf team was losing badly. They were frantically calling out signals and announcing their plays to each other using sign language. It dawned on Gallaudet’s quarterback, Paul Hubbard, that someone on the opposing team knew sign language and was relaying to his team the plays that were about to be run by the Gallaudet team. It was then that Paul decided to call his team together into a huddle to set up the plays. Oddly enough no one remembers the final score of that game, but now everyone understands the importance of huddles. They have since become a permanent part of many games besides football.
   
   Discuss: Can you think of other sports that utilize huddles as a way of sharing encouragement and strategy? While the Gallaudet football team was interested in keeping their plays a secret, why might we be more interest in letting everyone know of the plans for our One Day event and the role they can play in it?  What are some ways we can encourage everyone to be a part of our huddle?  In the heat of a game, why might huddles be important?
   
    
2. Read: A local reporter approached three High School girls for an interview after he learned that they were part of a large group of students that had just completed a city cleanup project. Somewhat embarrassed that they should be singled out for the interview, the three girls responded in agreement to the typical reporter’s questions concerning Who, What, When, and Where. However, when the reporter asked the Why question, it seemed that each of the girls had their own reason for participating.
   
   Sylvia responded rather apologetically, “Well, we get extra credit in our Civics class if we participated, and let’s just say that I didn’t do too well on my last Unit test.”
   
   Angel’s response was, “I guess I feel that it’s important for someone to do this in order to make the community look better and maybe help people take pride in where they live.”
   
   Solomon offered, “Well to be honest, I didn’t want to participate in the beginning but my teacher sort of ‘"guilt-ed" me into it… now I’m glad she did ‘cause all my friends where there and it was kind of cool. I feel pretty good about what we did.”
   
   Discuss: Of the three reasons given for participating in this cleanup, is one reason better than the other is? Why or why not? If we were to ask students who are planning to participate in our One Day event “why” they are doing so, what reasons might we hear? Do you think those who benefited from this clean-up were interested in knowing why these students were involved? Why or why not?
   
    
3. Read: Most editorials appearing in newspapers revolve around political issues. Someone wants something to happen or doesn’t want something to happen. Someone is upset that something has already happened and usually a governing body is held accountable. But a recent editorial written in the section of the paper well known for producing political slants was about something different. It was about something that happened that caused someone to write to the paper about hope in our generation. It seems that a man went into the cemetery in which his mother had been buried. He couldn’t help but notice how lush the flowers and grass looked. As he surveyed the cemetery he noticed two young children watering the flowers on another grave site. He assumed that these children were watering the flowers of someone they had known. Curiosity caused the on looker to ask the children if they were watering all of the flowers. They said they were. He noticed that there was no adult supervision leading him to believe that these children took it upon themselves to honor those who had passed away in this very quiet and unassuming way. He was so impressed that he went home and wrote an editorial to his local newspaper about these two children. He finished his published editorial by writing, “Just knowing that such sweet kindness exists somehow makes the maddening happenings of the world, normally read in this section (of the newspaper), somehow more tolerable.”
   
   Discuss: What do you think might motivate these two young people to perform such a “sweet kindness”? Why do you think the on looker was so impressed by what he saw? As we approach our One Day event, how night what we do represent hope in our generation? What would we like our local newspaper to say about our event and our involvement in it?
   www.hollandsentinel.com
   
    
4. Read: They said it couldn’t be done but Bill Snyder did it! Despite having a life filled with plenty of setbacks, he didn’t sit back. In football jargon, he turned many a “fourth down and lots of yards to go”, into first-downs, if not touchdowns. A product of a single-parent family, he refused to accept a no-can-do attitude. He turned a nearly straight-F first-semester at the University of Missouri into solid B's the next three years at William Jewell College. He climbed the ladder from prep football coach to coach of the greatest turnaround in college football history at Kansas State University. When asked how he achieved this feat and so many others in his life, Coach Snyder said, "If you're asking me to point to one thing, I would say perseverance." Marianne Williamson, an internationally known author and lecturer put it this way,” Perhaps the biggest secret in our midst isn’t about how little power we have to change things, but rather how much power we have that we aren’t using.”
   
   Discuss: Bill Snyder certainly is an example of someone who used his power to change the direction of his world. Why do you think people feel “powerless” in the face of so many of life’s “fourth downs”? How can we go about helping convince others and ourselves that we have more power to change things than we are actually using? As we plan for our One Day event, what role might perseverance have to play if it is to be successful?
   
    
5. Read: Most non-profit organizations depend upon volunteers and fund-raising as a means to support the activities of their organization. Like most non-profit organizations, our school depends upon volunteers and a fund-raiser to support all of The LEAGUE activities. For non-profits organizations sometimes their funding comes from people who just donate their money. Sometimes money comes from people who have died and leave their money in wills and trusts. Sometimes money comes through special programming, endowments, and/or grants. At still other times money may come through sponsorships of such things as walk-a-thons, swim-a-thons and read-a-thons, for example.  As you know, our LEAGUE has chosen to raise funds by means of a One Day event; a “serv-a-thon.”
   
   Discuss: How might a “serv-a-thon” generate more interest on the part of sponsors than a walk-a-thon, swim-a-thon, or read-a-thon? In order for our One Day event “serv-a-thon” to be successful what commitments need to be made and kept?
   
    
6. Read: If you’re wearing shoes, Jan Matzeliger had something to do with it. He was the person who invented the “lasting” machine. The machine that could make a complete shoe. Jan was born in Dutch Guiana in 1852 and came to the United States in 1876. He apprenticed as a cobbler (a maker of hand made shoes). Because making a pair of shoes by hand took so much time and money, there were many who attempted to design a machine that would shape the upper leather over the “last” (the solid form around which a shoe is molded) and then attach the leather to the bottom of the shoe, but to no avail. Even though people laughed at him for trying, Jan continued and ultimately succeeded and applied for a Patent. While highly unusual, Jan was among the first of his race to be granted a Patent. Unusual because even though many inventions were the original work of slaves of color, discrimination often resulted in inventions such as these being credited to white inventors. Patent number 274,207 transformed the entire shoe making industry!
   
   Discuss: When someone continues doing what they feel is right and good despite the odds of succeeding and having to tolerate people making fun of their efforts, it is said that that person has perseverance.  In what ways might we have to preserve as we participate in our One Day Event? How will the event transform our home, school, and/or community….and maybe even the entire world? How do you think Jan felt about his success? Might we have some of these same feelings if we preserve?
   
    
7. Read: When Coach Sylvan was asked what types of players he likes to have play for him on his high school girls’ volleyball team, he cited an informal survey of high school coaches conducted at a recent coaches’ conferences. The attributes high school coaches most often look for and appreciate in their players are as follows: a solid but not necessarily spectacular player; a dependable player but not necessarily a lime-lighter; someone with potential but not necessarily a finished product; a team player not necessarily a leader; a consistent performer not necessarily one with bursts of stardom; a worker rather than a superstar; and above all, someone who is willing to sacrifice his/her personal game for the good of the team “Players with these ideals are a coach’s dream,” says Coach Sylvan. “In the ‘me-first’, ‘get-me-the-money’, and ‘what-have-you-done-for-me lately’ culture of professional sports it is easy for some high school athletes to get caught up in thinking of stardom rather than ‘team-dom’.”
   
   Discuss: As we approach our One Day event why might it be important to view and conduct ourselves as team players? How can we help others overcome their feelings of “not being good enough to play” in this event? How might the saying “Slow and steady wins the race” apply to our participation in our One Day event? In what ways might we be asked to “sacrifice our personal game (stardom) for the good of the team (team-dom)”?
   
    
8. Read: Nothing could have prepared Red Cross volunteer, Mark Loeffler for what he saw and found himself having to do on 9/11 as the Twin Towers toppled to the ground creating a pile of rubble 11 stories high. Looking back on the events of that day, Mark shares, “I actually have pictures that were taken near Ground Zero of people who stopped what they doing to cheer police and firefighters,” he said. “That was an amazing thing” He admits that for him, it truly showed the compassion of Americans. A fellow reporter commented, “It seemed to bring everyone together in a way that perhaps nothing else could. No one was looting or trying to take advantage of the situation like you so often see in situations like this.”
   
   Discuss: Why is it that tragedy brings out the worst and best in people? How might everyone’s involvement in our One Day event, that meets a real community need, help bring us closer together as a class/as a school?
   
    
9. Read: Drafting or slipstreaming is a racing technique where racers bunch up in a close group in order to reduce the overall effect of drag or resistance, especially when high speeds are involved. By drafting, racers are able to reduce their expenditure of energy while still maintaining a certain speed. Usually done to reduce wind resistance, drafting is most commonly used in bicycle and car racing as well as speed skating. Occasionally, it is used in running and swimming as well. Like the flight of migrating geese, drafting can be cooperative, in which case participants will take turns in the lead position (which requires the most effort and energy consumption). Or, it can be competitive or tactical, where participants will try to stay close behind someone in front of them in order to have more energy for a last-minute break-away push to the finish line.
   
   Discuss: In what ways could our One Day event be one in which drafting could be a strategy? In what ways would our working to together help reduce “resistance”?  Why would it make more sense that our One Day event be a cooperative effort more than a competitive one? What can we learn about leadership from migrating geese in flight?
   
    
10. Read: If we were to list the top five things that we would change in our world to make it better, we probably would not all agree on exactly what these five things should be. One person recently responding to this challenge wrote to epinions.com  and listed her top five things she would change about our world. She listed the elimination of rage and violence, the elimination of racism, a cure for all the horrible diseases, a tolerance for religious beliefs and faith, and an increase in respect for each other and for what is right, just and fair.
    http://www.epinions.com/  
    
    Discuss: One would have to admit that these are pretty big ideas! And yet it would seem that we have to start somewhere. In what ways might our One Day event help to get us started on the road to changing things for the better in our school, community, and/or neighborhood? How might the money we raise during our One Day event “serv-a-thon” help us continue making some of these changes for the better? Why might it be important that we each support an idea for change even though that particular idea may not be in our personal top five?
     

Reflection plays a very important role in promoting student learning. The following suggested activities are ways to help students reflect on their learning after they have participated in a service event.  Choose one or more of the activities most appropriate to the service event and your students.

ACTIVITY ONE:
Put four “table coverings” (large sheets of butcher paper) in locations around the room.  Place one of the following headings on each “table covering”

The League Event (What did we actually do during the Event?),
The Feelings (What were some of the thoughts/emotions that we had while participating in this League Event?),
The Impact (What do we think were the results/impacts of our involvement in this League Event?),
The Improvement (What could be done to make this League Event even more successful next time?).

Assign each student to one of four groups giving each group a color marker and a starting “table covering”.  Have the students, in their groups, respond to the prompts written on their starting “table covering”.  (NOTE: Each group is to use the same color marker to record their thoughts and ideas on each “table covering”.)  After 2-5 minutes, have the students rotate clockwise to the next “table covering” with their marker in hand.  They are to first read what the first group wrote before writing their response to the prompt.  After 2-5 minutes the rotation continues until all of the groups have been to each table and have returned to their originally assigned table to read all the comments made by the other groups.  Depending on time, a classroom discussion could conclude this activity or it can be just as effective as a reflection activity without further discussion. 

ACTIVITY TWO:
Have the students share the many ways that information is communicated to the public in today’s world (i.e. radio, TV, Internet, etc.). Have the students talk about the kinds of information that are being shared. Focus on commercials and ads. Talk about how media has utilized the varied forms of communication to promote commercial products and services. Ask the students to think about how commercial products and services might have been advertised prior to all of the communication systems we use today. Lead them to understand that prior to all of our modern day communication systems, most advertising was done using handbills, signboards, and posters.  Share the fact that while each of these types of communicating information is still being used in some form today, the poster is the most popular of the three. 

Inform the class that they are being asked to make posters that can be displayed in this classroom next year to advertise this League Event just completed. The poster should serve as an effective way to promote and motivate students to become involved in this League Event next year. Assign students to groups of three. Give each group an assortment of art materials for poster making and a poster or a large piece of paper.  Tell the students that the poster is to convey the following information:
 

1. The name of this League Event (and the date, if known)
2. The focus of this League Event (what is supposed to happen?)
3. The motivations for being involved in this League Event (why participate?)
4. The anticipated outcome(s) of this League Event (what difference will it make?)
    

If time permits have each group show and talk about their completed poster. Collect the posters for display.

ACTIVITY THREE:

Tell the students that most people don’t have a lot of trouble making a decision to do or not do something. However, very few people give much thought to why they make the decisions that they do. Each of us has a personal style when it comes to making decisions.  Have the students take an involvement style test that will help them better understand how they think when confronted with the need to make a decision, like whether or not to become involved in a project or activity. Have the students select from among the animal character-types listed below, which one they most closely resemble when it comes to making a decision to involve themselves in a project or activity:

• A turtle: Usually I’m not too willing to stick out my neck
• A possum: Usually when I’m asked to something I play “dead”
• A porcupine: Usually when I’m asked to do something, I get “bristle-ly”
• A snail: Usually when I’m asked to do something I am pretty slow to commit.
• A sheep: Usually I just follow the crowd and do what they do.
• A St. Bernard: Usually, I’m pretty helpful but only when I’m really needed.
• A Giraffe: Usually, I need to see the big picture before I am willing to commit
• A Hawk: Usually I have excellent instincts and hit the target on the fly.
• An Owl: Usually, I weigh the pros and cons before I act
• A Mule: Usually, I need someone to force me to do something
• A Beaver: Usually I just dive in and go to work before I’m even told to do so.
• An Ostrich: Usually I bury my head hoping I won’t have to decide.

(Suggest that if there are other animal character-types not listed here that even more closely represent ones involvement style, to feel free to use that animal character type instead.
 
 
Have the students group themselves by their selected involvement style. (NOTE: Include a miscellaneous group for those without a match or be prepared to mix and match groups so no one is alone.)  In these groupings, have the students share what it’s like for them to make decisions using their involvement style and under what conditions might they change their typical involvement style and why? Reconvene the class and lead a discussion concerning the involvement styles of the students when making the decision to become involved in this LEAGUE Event? How was their involvement style typical of or different from their usual involvement style? For each involvement style, what might be the best approach to take when trying to promoting this LEAGUE Event next year?

ACTIVITY FOUR:
Take a few minutes for students to share why (what were their motivations) they decided to get involved in this Event. Then read the five scenarios below and tell the students that they will be asked to make a decision about which scenario they would respond to/help out with’ if required to select one of the five:

Scenario One: The Appadoca’s home has recently burned leaving the entire family of five virtually homeless. A volunteer agency, that helps families relocate after a disaster, has decided to build the Appadoca’s a new home.  They are in need of people to help out on Saturdays with a variety of skills.

Scenario Two: Mr. Sang is in the hospital recovering from an injury he experienced while using a piece of equipment at the local lumber company.  Mrs. Sang finds it very difficult to visit her husband in the hospital because she has no family in the area to help her take care of her three small children.  The local faith-based organization has asked if anyone would be willing and able to baby sit the children for two hours one night a week so Mrs. Sang can run her errands and visit her husband in the hospital.

Scenario Three: The local soup kitchen is in need of cooks and servers on Friday nights from 5-7 p.m. for the month of October. In filling out their schedule with their regular volunteers, they discovered that not enough volunteers are available in October.

Scenario Four: A local agency, that supplies volunteers to help the elderly who are still living in their own homes with fall clean-up, are in desperate need of leaf-rakers and people who can do light odd jobs that help prepare these older people’s homes for the winter months ahead.  They ask if anyone in the community might be able to help out on the Friday following Thanksgiving.

Scenario Five: A local Salvation Army has put out a request for ‘bell ringers’ for the 4-6 p.m. time period each Tuesday between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.

Have the students select the one scenario that they feel they would most likely ‘respond to/become involved in’ and then have them jot down on paper three reasons why they selected the scenario they did.  Designate five different areas in the classroom and have the students move to the designated area that corresponds with their selected scenario.  In the groups, have the students take turns reading the reasons why they selected the scenario that they did.  Have them look for similarities and differences in motivation.

OPTIONAL: Rearrange the groups so that there is at least one representative of each scenario selected.  (Obviously it is highly unlikely that this will all come out even.) In these mixed groups, once again have the students share their selected scenario and the three reasons why they selected the scenario they did.  Once again look for similarities and differences.

Have the students share their conclusions during a whole group discussion. Encourage the class to explore answers to the following questions: Were the motivations for being involved in the same scenario always the same?  Were the motivations for being involved in different scenarios always different?  Did the motivations cover such things as Feelings? Abilities? Impacts? Convenience? How did the motivations involved in this scenario activity compare to those talked about earlier in relation to our recent League Event?