The Council of Michigan Foundations and a Steering Committee of thirteen collaborating leaders in education, volunteerism, and nonprofit leadership have successfully completed a unique effort to write, field test, implement and disseminate high quality K-12 curriculum lessons, units and materials on philanthropy. Nurtured and piloted in Michigan, Learning to Give merged with The LEAGUE for a national and international infusion of this academic content into the core curriculum of schools.
The project developed curriculum lessons, units, and materials for perpetuating a civil society through the education of children about the civil society sector, and to achieve their commitment to private citizen action for the common good. The lessons, units, and materials that are a part of the curriculum contain both academic content about philanthropy, and skill development activities which involve students in giving and serving their communities.
The basic strategy for the project was a grassroots teacher-led effort to infuse academic content about philanthropy and the service learning process into the curriculum. Classroom teachers in school systems serving a variety of communities are developing lessons, units, and materials, piloting, field-testing, and building authentic evaluation processes. The teachers are in kindergarten through senior high school classrooms, in public and private schools, and in rural, suburban and urban settings.
Their materials are available to be shared nationally and internationally without cost. During the process of writing and testing, national and international educators have been linked into the writing through the Internet, presentations at meetings, communications and informal networking.
Begun in 1997, this carefully designed program has generated an enthusiastic response from classroom teachers and school administrators.
“We also see that this philanthropy philosophy helps us talk to students about behavior, respect, caring, and ‘doing the right thing’ across the school day and school year. It is a hook, a language we can use to ‘hang our hat on.’”
A request for proposals for curriculum development resulted in essays from teachers that affirmed the need for such a curriculum.
"For a child to feel a sense of worth, he or she must feel that he belongs and that his existence is meaningful. And just as family provides the framework from which thatsense of worth develops, the child's formal education should include an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of individuals to the greater whole of society."
"What greater purpose does a middle school have than to help a child in transition find himself. We have a responsibility to provide opportunities that allow students to feel needed in the larger community so they don't develop a sense of self in a vacuum."
"We're living in a society where money has more power than God; where human life is worth less than someone's jacket. We must teach our children about tolerance, unselfishness, and about giving. We need to teach them that sometimes we need to compromise or give up something that would be good for us as an individual so that what we're choosing instead is good for all."
Learning to Give successfully merged with The LEAGUE in 2006 and is moving rapidly to fulfill its potential in thoughtfully and systematically transmitting the philanthropic tradition to the next generation. For further information, please contact: Barbara Dillbeck, Curriculum Director.
Learning to Give National Advisory Committee through Spring 2006
| National Advisory Committee | |
|---|---|
| Eugene Tempel, Chair Executive Director Center on Philanthropy Indiana University |
|
Robert Ashcraft Director Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Management Arizona State University |
Grant Cioffi |
| Robin Douthitt Dean, School of Human Ecology Center for Women in Philanthropy University of Wisconsin-Madison |
David Lawrence, Jr. President Early Childhood Initiative Foundation Florida International University |
| Brian O'Connell Professor of Public Service University College of Citizenship & Public Service Tufts University |
Joel Orosz Distinguished Professor in Philanthropy Dorothy A. Johnson Center on Philanthropy Grand Valley State University |
| Laurie Paarlberg Assistant Professor of Public Administration Public Administration Program College of Behavioral and Social Sciences San Francisco State University |
Marilyn Page Assistant Professor Penn State University |
| Sarah Jane Rehnborg RGK Center for Philanthropy & Community Service LBJ School of Public Affairs University of Texas at Austin |
Thomas H. Sander Executive Director The Saguaro Seminar-Civic Engagement in America Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government |
| Andrea Walton Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Indiana University |
Mark Wilson Associate Professor Geography/Urban and Regional Planning Michigan State University |
| D. Susan Wisely Volunteer |
ExOfficio Russell G. Mawby Learning to Give–Michigan, Chair Chairman Emeritus W.K. Kellogg Foundaion |