This unit is about women’s place in American history and philanthropy. As a part of this unit, students will be working with American history and philanthropy timelines to determine representation of women in recorded history and philanthropy. They will add women to the timelines to more fully represent the contributions women make to the common good. They will also identify core democratic values of women who took a stand in history and acted as philanthropists. Students will act as philanthropists through an advocacy project related to bullying in their own school. As a part of this project, students will design and give surveys related to bullying and write letters to interested parties, taking a position on whether or not bullying violates a student’s core democratic values and whether or not students should be actively involved in stopping bullying in their school.

The learners will:

• describe how the actions of Pocahontas (Matoaka) and Kate Shelley demonstrated core democratic values which contributed to the common good.
  
  
• identify and categorize the contributions of women in philanthropy and American history.
  
  
• define hero and philanthropist, give real-life examples and describe how individuals from the community meet the qualifications.
  
  
• describe how an ordinary person’s selfless behavior can have a significant impact on a community.
  
  
• describe how core democratic values apply to everyday life.
  
  
• conduct a survey on an issue of direct concern.
  
  
• explain that efforts to stop bullying can constitute an act of philanthropy.
  
  
• write a formal letter using survey data and prior knowledge to take a stand on an issue.
  
  
• describe an advocate for the common good as one who benefits others.

• The learners will complete a worksheet which describes actions of Pocahontas (Matoaka) on behalf of the common good and taking a stand on a core democratic value. Student learning will also be re-enacted in role plays.
  
  
• In Lesson Two: Hey Lady! Where Are You? students will create timelines which will form an addendum to a women’s timeline of American History and Philanthropy. Each timeline will include a specific period of time.
  
  
• In Lesson Three: Everyday Heroes Then and Now the learners will write two paragraphs about a philanthropist and hero. The paragraphs will include the definition and a specific supporting detail for each person chosen.
  
  
• In Lesson Four: Bullying and Core Democratic Values the learners’ completed surveys will act as a measure of student learning. The learners will explain how an advocacy service project is a philanthropic act. They will explain how bullying violates core democratic values.
  
  
• In Lesson Five: Taking a Stand on Bullying learners will write persuasive letters on the topic of bullying. The letter will be holistically scored with a rubric.

Many of the lessons in this unit can be used separately. The teacher may choose to do one or two lessons in the unit or may choose to do the complete unit. Lesson Four: Bullying and Core Democratic Values and Lesson Five: Taking a Stand on Bullying should be done together since the data in Lesson Four is used in Lesson Five. Though a computer lab is not required, it is useful for many of the lessons in the unit.
The first lesson of the unit is entitled “Pocahontas (Matoaka)”. Respect for other cultures requires us to identify persons by the names their culture uses/used. Because Pocahontas’ people did not use their actual names with other peoples, her name is supplied only in parentheses for information purposes.