Learners look at nonprofit mission statements and then create a personal mission statement related to the impact they want to make as responsible, engaged citizens.
Focus Question: How does an individual use personal interests and strengths to impact 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.
The learners define philanthropy and relate it to environmental stewardship. They compare mission statements from environmental organizations and write their own personal mission statement. They self-select a group to work with to plan and implement an environmental service...
Each learner sets an individual goal using a goal-setting strategy. The group reflects on perseverance and how to persevere when the plan gets difficult to carry out.
When times are hard, it is sometimes difficult to remember that the things that count are not material, and the people who make a difference in our lives are the ones we often take for granted. We read five Jewish folktales that reveal gifts of generosity in everyday events of life. Through...
Performance of the mitzvah of tzedakah is, ideally, a holistic part of life, not an activity to be performed when all others have been completed! This lesson offers a classic model of how that ideal was realized by one of our Sages, Rabbi Tanchum, and how our families might...
Through writing, learners reflect on their own plans for taking responsibility rather than leaving things to others.
Although the problems of the environment seem overwhelming, if each person does a little, the problems can be reduced. Even small contributions make an impact on the environment. Students choose ways they can make an impact through their small...
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...
Students organize and implement a school-based recycling plan based on a one-day lunchroom waste audit.
Adapt this one-period lesson plan for your grade level and follow it with a simple and powerful service project for Earth...