Okay, time to share my own story of sharing and openness. Back in OLTD 501 Mary asked us to watch a movie put together by one of our future instructors (Avi) which outlined projects that he had his students do to fix something in their world. Looking back I’m not sure why we watched the video – if it was to introduce us to this fantastic idea or if there was another motivation surrounding it. Regardless of the motivation, it spurred in me a desire to take on the challenge of fixing my world and somehow making a difference. Well, specifically I thought what a fantastic idea to bring to my own classroom!
Fast forward to November when I introduced the idea to my own students, asking them to identify what bugged them and how they could improve the lives of 1, 10 or 100 people (very similar to Avi’s projects). I had also just been to the CUEBC conference and shared a number of videos that we watched there which encouraged proper planning of any endeavour one chose to undertake (but that’s a whole other story for a whole other day). Long story short – my students ate it up! Plans were formulated, fundraisers were held, poster boards were presented and in just a few short months amazing things happened. One of my students has a brother who spends a large amount of time in Children’s Hospital due to health issues. Because this same student also has a grandma who just happens to be an amazing baker, he alone raised over $500.00 for Children’s Hospital. Other students organized a ‘get out of class’ afternoon where they took students outside for organized activities and charged them each a dollar for the priveledge of skipping class. We held cake walks, garbage clean ups, bottle drives and more. My one small class (about 24 of my students participated) ended up raising just over $1500.00 through various projects and activities. WOW! I am so proud of the work they did. The best part is that they all wanted to do more and extend the time we had to work on our projects so that they could help even more people (I think the most heartwarming story was two girls who raised money for a woman in our community who is currently fighting breast cancer. The woman actually came in to the school to meet the girls and brought them flowers and talked to them about what a difference they made in her belief that there are good people out there).
But the good news story doesn’t just end there. Excited with my success, I shared the story again, this time with my mom who teaches in a different school district. She too wanted to bring the idea into her classroom and has had great success as well. She has had students volunteer at an animal shelter, cut their hair to make wigs for cancer patients and fundraise to the tune of over $1000.00!
So this is my amazing story of sharing. I don’t think Avi is even aware of the impact (well, maybe he is now) of his idea and how I ‘borrowed’ it and ran with it. Initially I’ll admit to being a bit shy for ‘taking his idea’ and then I wanted to celebrate my students for what they’d done, not for the attention they could get because of their actions. Now I realize that what we’ve all managed to do collectively is just plain awesome and should be shared. We should be proud! Avi and his students did amazing things and planted the seed to get others to do great things as well. Overall, we have managed to make a huge difference in our communities and the sense of goodwill and desire to help others has been kindled in many students who may not otherwise have had the opportunities to do so.
This is the true power of sharing and being open to others in our work. Good things are being done every day and the more people who get on board, the better!
Fast forward to November when I introduced the idea to my own students, asking them to identify what bugged them and how they could improve the lives of 1, 10 or 100 people (very similar to Avi’s projects). I had also just been to the CUEBC conference and shared a number of videos that we watched there which encouraged proper planning of any endeavour one chose to undertake (but that’s a whole other story for a whole other day). Long story short – my students ate it up! Plans were formulated, fundraisers were held, poster boards were presented and in just a few short months amazing things happened. One of my students has a brother who spends a large amount of time in Children’s Hospital due to health issues. Because this same student also has a grandma who just happens to be an amazing baker, he alone raised over $500.00 for Children’s Hospital. Other students organized a ‘get out of class’ afternoon where they took students outside for organized activities and charged them each a dollar for the priveledge of skipping class. We held cake walks, garbage clean ups, bottle drives and more. My one small class (about 24 of my students participated) ended up raising just over $1500.00 through various projects and activities. WOW! I am so proud of the work they did. The best part is that they all wanted to do more and extend the time we had to work on our projects so that they could help even more people (I think the most heartwarming story was two girls who raised money for a woman in our community who is currently fighting breast cancer. The woman actually came in to the school to meet the girls and brought them flowers and talked to them about what a difference they made in her belief that there are good people out there).
But the good news story doesn’t just end there. Excited with my success, I shared the story again, this time with my mom who teaches in a different school district. She too wanted to bring the idea into her classroom and has had great success as well. She has had students volunteer at an animal shelter, cut their hair to make wigs for cancer patients and fundraise to the tune of over $1000.00!
So this is my amazing story of sharing. I don’t think Avi is even aware of the impact (well, maybe he is now) of his idea and how I ‘borrowed’ it and ran with it. Initially I’ll admit to being a bit shy for ‘taking his idea’ and then I wanted to celebrate my students for what they’d done, not for the attention they could get because of their actions. Now I realize that what we’ve all managed to do collectively is just plain awesome and should be shared. We should be proud! Avi and his students did amazing things and planted the seed to get others to do great things as well. Overall, we have managed to make a huge difference in our communities and the sense of goodwill and desire to help others has been kindled in many students who may not otherwise have had the opportunities to do so.
This is the true power of sharing and being open to others in our work. Good things are being done every day and the more people who get on board, the better!