Learning to Give, Philanthropy education resources that teach giving and civic engagement
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Unit Purpose:
Students explore the ways people around the world earn and spend money. They brainstorm possible careers and graph their personal interests on a class graph. They learn four choices they can make with money and compare this to how they spend their time. They recognize that volunteering requires freedom of choice. The students compare how they spend their time to how Alexander from Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday spent his money. They discuss positive incentives for donating money and make a plan.
Unit Duration:
Three 45-Minute Sessions, Plus time to plan and carry out a service project
Unit Objectives:
The learner will:
- brainstorm and graph ways to earn money.
- identify civil society sector corporations and local people who work for nonprofit organizations.
- identify paths to careers around the world.
- define positive and negative incentives.
- identify four ways to manage money and compare to ways they spend their time.
- recognize that volunteering requires freedom of choice.
- identify examples of families supporting giving and sharing.
- compare and contrast choices of a book character to choices in their own lives.
- choose action they can take to share their resources with others in need.
- describe the opportunity cost of philanthropic giving.
Service Experience:
In Lesson Three, students brainstorm ideas for ways to share time and treasure to help themselves, family, community, and world. They select one choice to carry out as a service project.
One option is to start a penny war to raise money for an agreed-upon charity. Each team chooses a charity to support and starts a jar for saving pennies. Over a given time, they collect pennies and add to the jar of their choice. Adding coins other than pennies counts against their score but adds to the charity. So they may add silver coins to a competitor’s jar in order to win. At the end of the time, the team with the highest score wins the game, but all the charities win overall. Read about penny wars at
http://www.pennies.org/index.php?Itemid=35&id=22&option=com_content&task=view
Notes for Teaching:
We live in a self-centered world. If you watch any television program or news report, or examine the concerns of any individual, chances are that you’ll see the effects of this self-centeredness. As a small group of individuals and nations gain control of our wealth and resources, those remaining are left to suffer the consequences. Greedy and self-centered behavior doesn’t just affect others – in fact, one could argue that the people who suffer most from selfish behavior are selfish people themselves. Self-centered individuals live closed-off, unhappy lives, never realizing that true happiness comes from loving, appreciating, and understanding the people around them, and not from the things they possess or the people they control. Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized the destructive effects of selfishness, but also saw hope for the future:
"I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, quality, and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, other-centered men can build up."
By focusing on and investing in others, we can improve the world that we live in. Those who participate in charitable events, and who spend time learning and caring about people from all over the world, quickly realize how much they can gain personally from these selfless activities. There is no better way to enrich yourself or your community than to help others.
Bibliographical References:
- Scholastic.com. “A Kid’s Economic Glossary” Simple definitions of some essential-to-know economic terms.
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3750579 - Viorst, Judith. Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday. New York: Atheneum, 1978. ISBN: 0689711999
- Williams, Vera. A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams. Greenwillow, 1984. ISBN: 978-0688040741
State Curriculum and Philanthropy Theme Frameworks:
See individual lessons for benchmark detail.
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to freely use this information for nonprofit (noncommercial), educational purposes only. Copyright must be acknowledged on all copies.
