Be the change you wish to see in the world. Mahatma Ghandi
This quote has always been a driving force when teaching students to take charge of something they see is unfit for the world. When I begin the unit on Ecology I always begin with doing a silent debate. The question being "How well do you think we are treating our earth?" The question is written on a large piece on construction paper, all students are given a few minutes to think of the initial answer. No one is allowed to talk during the debate, they have to write their arguments on the construction paper. I have had students jumping up and down waiting for their turn to reply to something a classmate has written.
I enjoy this exercise because it gets me and my students to see how we really feel we are treating our earth. I think I might want to challenge my students to put themselves in another persons shoes. Challenge them to go a day or 2 without using electricity at home, or using cold water to shower, sleep on the floor, instead of the bed. I wonder how many students will actually follow through with this activity.
With the recent hurricane Sandy hitting the coast of NJ and NYC, I have heard of school systems organizing food drives and toy drives for the people who were affected by the storm. The toy drives were very close to my heart seeing that the hurricane hit so close to Christmas. Many families were not able to afford Christmas presents and the toy drives allowed children to experience a bit of normalcy after going through such a tragic event. I think that organizing drives such as a toy drive can really have students lend a hand into restoring the lives of people involved in natural disasters.
I agree, I think that is a great idea also. I mentioned in another post that people forget quickly and move on. There are so many needs after an event.
ReplyDeleteI was looking up organizations in our area. I thought I would gather the information and create a booklet to give out to school children and their families.
We do local drives for causes in our town and school. The kids are always ready to help. My niece stayed in a boat after Sandy. Volunteers could go for a week and live on the boat while helping Hurricane Sanday Victims.
Companies could help more by letting people have time off to voluneer for such evnts. More people would participate.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI think that you have a great idea with your challenge, and if possible it might be interesting to have students research the life of a child in another culture. I also wanted to suggest a site to you at: http://www.dosomething.org/. Although many of the projects are based in the US, there is also general information and online resources that would be applicable anywhere. -Amy :)