Dear Philanthropist
Focus Question: What can we learn from diverse people today and in history about private action for the common good?
Photo Credit: Nursing Students in Peru 2009 by Marquette University is licensed under CC by 2.0
In this unit, learners conduct investigations to discover what motivated philanthropists from history to engage in their work. They present this information, both orally and in writing, creating a public or online display of that philanthropist's life and work.
Learners will be able to differentiate between a "philanthropist" and a "celebrity" and formulate questions to better understand the philanthropists' motivation for working for the common good.
In this lesson learners research the public and philanthropic life of the person to whom they have written, and prepare a three to five minute oral presentation based on their research.
Learners will share information about individual philanthropists and write bio-poems about them.
After researching the life and work of a chosen philanthropist from history, the learner takes on the role of that philanthropist in writing a letter to the learner. In this letter, the philanthropist discusses his/her motivations and feelings about his/her work, and compares and contrasts his/her work with the philanthropic work of the learner. The learner also prepares his/her previously created visual presentation and the two letters s/he has written for public display.