Learning to Give, Philanthropy education resources that teach giving and civic engagement
generationOn
Purpose:
Learners determine different ways that they show caring. They write the things they care about in word webs related to "how" they care about each thing.
Duration:
One 20-minute lesson
Objectives:
The learner will:
- determine how he or she cares about things and people important to him or her.
- discuss similar interests and feelings about issues.
Service Experience:
This character education mini-lesson is not intended to be a service learning lesson or to meet the K-12 Service-Learning Standards for Quality Practice. The character education units will be most effective when taught in conjunction with a student-designed service project that provides a real world setting in which students can develop and practice good character and leadership skills. For ideas and suggestions for organizing service events go to www.generationon.org.
Materials:
- sheets of chart paper, markers
- list of words/phrases from the previous lesson (synonmys of caring)
- character education journals with list of things students care about
Instructional Procedure(s):
Anticipatory Set:
Ask the learners to look at the list of five people or things they "care" about in their journals from the previous lesson. Give them time to revise the list based on conversations with friends and family, if they wish to do so.
- Review the words/phrases that are synonymous with care or caring that are displayed from the previous lesson. Choose five to eight from this list that are most suitable for this assignment (read ahead to understand) and write these words in the center of pieces of chart paper--one word/phrase per chart. (Note: This may be done before class to save time.)
- Post the charts around the room and give each student a marker.
- Ask the learners to get out of their seats, taking their list of five things they care about with them, and write each of the things from their lists on a chart that describes how they care about it. For instance, on the chart with the word love they might write the word "family;" by the word worry they might write "grades;" and by the word concern they might write "friends." They should match what they care about to how they care about it.
- When finished, allow time for the learners to view the caring words again to see what their classmates indicated under each of the words. (Some words may show up several times.)
- Discuss if there are any patterns or similar interests. This may lead to a discussion about taking action to show their caring.
Bibliographical References:
- Learning to Give Briefing Paper: Enlightened Self-Interest, http://learningtogive.org/papers/paper23.html
- enlightened self-interest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlightened_self-interest
- Learning to Give Briefing Paper; Alexis de Touqueville http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/paper87.html
- Tocgueville, Alexis de; Democracy in America, Published in 1835
Lesson Developed By:
Betsy FlikkemaAssociate Director
Learning to Give
Barbara Dillbeck
Director
Learning to Give
Handouts:
Unit Contents:
Overview:Character Education: Caring (Grade 8) Summary
Lessons:
- 1.
- Stick Your Neck Out
- 2.
- Defining Caring
- 3.
- What Type of Caring?
- 4.
- The Rewards of Caring
- 5.
- Caring and Self-Interest
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to freely use this information for nonprofit (noncommercial), educational purposes only. Copyright must be acknowledged on all copies.
