T5d: Evaluate yourself according to the standards of NETS-T 5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership [d. Contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self- renewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community].
Self-rated as: Developing
For NETS-T5d, I rated myself as Developing on the basis that I have not had experience in contributing to the teaching profession or a school community. I think that contributing to the teaching profession is a very important aspect of being an educator. Without these contributions, the profession would become stagnant and, I believe, teachers would begin to lose their focus for teaching.
In Your Experience
I have not given much of my time to philanthropic activities, though I have participated to a certain degree. A couple of years ago, I participated with Habitat for Humanity and we worked to put some final touches on the outside of a family's new home. I have also participated with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) during their holiday event. This holiday celebration was a dinner targeted to low-income and homeless families, many of whom struggle with mental illness in their lives. NAMI provided a Christmas celebration for the children, including a gift tree, and I was part of the kitchen crew. I also worked with Hough Elementary during their Father Christmas event, where students (many who are from low-income families) are able to "shop" through the donated gifts to give to their family members. There have been other opportunities for philanthropy which I have participated in during my life as well.
These examples of my experience with philanthropy have always reminded me of how important it is to give back. Humans are such social creatures and I really don't believe that we would survive if we couldn't rely on our fellow man. By giving of their time and effort, and perhaps being exposed to a side of life that they may be unfamiliar with, students can learn what it truly means to give. Philanthropic giving (outside of money) is an important experience for children to have, in my opinion. I think that participating in philanthropy creates an attitude shown in the diagram below, for adults and children:
Section Exploration
From this section, there are many philanthropic opportunities that interest me:
I thought that these organizations, especially, could be introduced in the classroom to students or at a school-wide level, in order to expose students to different forms of philanthropy that don't require you to donate money (for the most part). I think that instilling the idea of kindness philanthropy to students at an early age will help to create responsible, kind community members.
Random Acts of Kindness provides lesson plans that teachers can use (free membership, all you have to do is register. Available in English and Spanish for K-8) in their classrooms to lead students in developing an understanding of unconditional caring for others. It also provides booklists that can used for student reading and teacher reading.
Free Rice donates 10 grains of rice for every correct answer from a variety of subject areas, in participation with World Food Programme. Could be used in the classroom to expand vocabulary, grammar, math, even chemical symbols knowledge. Students could also be encouraged to start using it outside of school.
Kind Spring (formerly helpothers.org) encourages performing Random Acts of Kindness to others and to leave "Smile Cards" (which can be downloaded for free on their website in several different languages or designs) that encourage others to do the same in a "Pay It Forward" style.
Youth Frontiers which provides seminars for students and teaching staff that promote community and character building. Although they are located in the Midwest, they do perform national seminars but there is a cost involved for students or teachers attending.
I felt that this video illustrates the point of how minor a good deed can seem but that it can make a huge impact...
A film by Life Vest Inside.
Video from KarmaTube
Reflection
Giving back doesn't always have to require a lot of time or money, but it is a skill that not everyone realizes they possess. I think that part of our job as educators is to help children recognize those skills through exposure and modeling. This, along with focusing on our own professional development, is essential in our role as teachers. I believe that Edutopia will be extremely valuable in my career as it provides tools that I will be able to use, ranging from How to Create Social Media Guidelines In Your School to blogs on a variety of topics. I think that as my career progresses, maintaining my professional development will rely more and more on developing it through technology, either by participating in online seminars and trainings to searching for new tools to use in my classroom.
I really get a lot out of visual representations. That being said, your venn diagram is awesome. I will definitely be stealing that from you and using it. I like the way it is able to convey all that information with just a few words. Great find!
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