This beautiful documentary The Gift of All: a Community of Givers shares the motivations and attributes of the generous people interviewed. In response, the learners create their own short biographies of philanthropists in their community.

Students learn effective techniques and complete prewriting activities for writing a persuasive essay. As a culmination of the unit, students choose one of the three styles of writing--news article, personal narrative, or persuasive essay--to write, edit, and publish about their experience with giving time, talent, or treasure for the common good. 

Students learn about the characteristics of an effective personal narrative and compare those to a news article. They do prewriting activities and practice writing details to show rather than tell about an experience.

Students become familiar with the structure of the newspaper and the purpose of the different types of articles as they explore "stories" about acts of giving and sharing time, talent, and treasure for the common good. Students recognize the types of voices and articles in the newspaper. They analyze the components of news articles and complete pre-writing for a news article about their own acts of philanthropy. 

Youth raise awareness of ways to advocate for justice and kindness and bring positive change in their school, community, and world.

Learners write personal narratives to document activities, insights, research, impact, and discoveries of their firsthand experience with civic engagement, service, and volunteerism. By explaining involvement in action for the common good, learners raise awareness of a social issue, the need for change, and the impact individuals can have by giving time, talent, or treasure for the common good.

This lesson teaches how to journal about their own experiences and feelings. It is intended to be taught in conjunction with a project of civic engagement or service. The project provides content and a context for journaling about personal experience.

This lesson guides learners as they inform a public audience about philanthropic acts that enhance the common good. The learners write newspaper articles that describe acts of service and volunteerism in their community.

Through persuasive writing, young people build awareness and invite action for change about an issue. Typical writing forms may include essays, editorials, feature articles, or speeches.

Youth research current data and stories about climate change and ways to reverse the damage caused by human activity. Through discussion and research, they establish things they can do personally and as a team as environmental stewards.