Category: Moral Education

Service Education

Of all the educational curricular areas and ideas service education and moral education are my favorites. Of course I became a teacher to help students become literate and knowledgeable and to assist them in becoming excellent mathematicians, scientists, etc. I think that is all very important. However, my primary motivation for becoming a teacher was and is that I want to encourage students to be “good people.” I think it is important to teach students the value in being kind, respectful, caring, and giving. I’m a big believer that actions speak louder than words. Students often learn more by watching what we do rather than from listening to what we say. I also believe that learning is enhanced when the learner is actively engaged. Service projects provide excellent opportunities to combine all of these elements into experiences that can have great, great benefit. Who knows, you might even end up encouraging your students to start their own projects just like these kids have done: Common Cents and PurBlu.

Here are a few trustworthy resources to help you begin using service projects in your classroom.

  1. Kiva
  2. Modest Needs
  3. Touch A Life
  4. Hurrican Katrina Recovery in Pascagoula, MS
  5. Ryan’s Hope
  6. Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation
  7. Children for Tomorrow
  8. Cancer Related Charities – The Breast Cancer Site, American Cancer Society, Relay for Life, Live Strong, Susan G. Komen
  9. Access even more resources by clicking on the Service tag on my blog and bookmarks.

Would you please share your service project ideas, experiences, and resources with the rest of us?

We Didn’t Start the Fire: A Brief History of the U.S.A.

Scott Allsop has taken Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire and created an educational video that depicts all the historical events that Joel sings about. Tracey Osborn uses Allsop’s video and takes it even further. Osborn created this webpage that provides the song’s lyrics and hyper-links all of the historical events metioned to related online resources. Wow!!! I could see some kids just going crazy with this kind of activity. You know they’ll even do this at home and come back the next day still talking about all the history that they’ve absorbed.

You can watch the video here…

…or you can also view/download this video (and many other great videos for use in the classroom) from the awesomely cool TeacherTube.com.

What impact do you think this kind of lesson would have?

The Crisis in Darfur: A Mini-Lesson that Teaches So Much

I challenge you to complete this mini-lesson and consider the questions below.

LESSON

  1. Watch this news special about the crisis in Darfur.
  2. Play Darfur Is Dying, a quick mini-game that simulates aspects of daily living in this region.

DISCUSSION

  1. What is your reaction to this information and simulated experience?
  2. What, if anything, did you learn from this lesson?
  3. How might this activity be integrated with teaching and learning?

Civil Rights Museum

The National Civil Rights Museum is located in the former Lorraine motel in Memphis, TN where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. I’ve visited the museum several times in the past year and I’ve been trying to blog about my experiences. I’ve been working on this post for four days hoping to find the words that would fully describe the impact of these visits as they have been profound and moving. However, I feel like my efforts to describe my experiences in words only diminishes their impact. What I can say is that I strongly encourage you to visit the museum the next time you are in the Memphis area. I assure you it is worth the trip.


Photo by Clif


Photo by Clif


Image from History Cooperative