Generosity

(During the summer months, I like to take the A-Z Challenge and come up with words alphabetically and see how they apply to education. I think it’s a great exercise for teachers and students to give this a try.)

Generosity means willing to give or share. This may be giving money, time, or skills.

For many of my students with special needs, they feel that people look down on them and see them as useless. With a disability, they feel like second-class citizens and inferior to others.

I spend a lot of time trying to tell them that if they act this way, that is how people will see them.

Just because someone has a disability doesn’t mean that they can’t be generous to others.

I let my students brainstorm ways we can be generous to others.

Here are some of the things that we have done:

• Collect food for a food bank.
• Visit a nursing home.
• Make flag pins for veterans on Veteran’s Day.
• Write encouraging notes to others.
• Pick up trash around the school grounds.
• Help an elderly person with some difficult chores.
• Create a flower bed on school grounds and maintain the bed.
• Make public service announcement videos to share with other students.
• Maintain a bulletin board in a hallway.
• Make a display for the library.

After doing these activities, my students realize that they have a lot to give to others. They are just as good as anyone else and can help others. It goes a long way to restoring their pride and helping them feel good about themselves. The more that they do, the better they feel.

I’m so proud of my students when they start looking for other ways to help people without any prompting.

How do you encourage your students to be generous with others?

Photo by Elaine Casap on Unsplash

The Art of Giving

As this holiday season of Thanksgiving approaches, I see lots of people planning giving projects. I see people gathering gently used coats, hats, scarves, and mittens for the needy. I see people collecting food for the food banks. I see many people with a lot of good hearts thinking about other people. I see people collecting money and having fundraisers for others.

I think it is wonderful that there are so many people who think of others. It warms my heart to know that there are such nice people in the world despite seeing all the violence and horror on the news.

Yet, I want to warn people to be very sensitive in giving to others.

Some may not want to admit they need something or others don’t consider themselves needy.

It is important to respect other people’s privacy and pride.

While we may think that other people may need something, it is best to check with them first to see if they want what you are giving them. When asking them, it needs to be done privately so they don’t feel embarrassed.

Don’t assume that because you think people may need something, that they think they do too. They may be very happy just the way they are.

I have many students that would be embarrassed to take a used coat and then there are others who wouldn’t care. Sometimes respecting their pride and keeping them from being humiliated is more important than worrying about them keeping warm. If it gets bad enough or they get desperate enough, they will remember that you cared and may come to you for help at a later time.

What are some giving projects have you done that were successful? What advice would you give to finding recipients of your project? Please share.

Photo by Tom Parsons on Unsplash

Show You Care

In What You Do Matters from @DavidGeurin Blog, the author asks,

“Who is someone who inspires you? How are you giving generously to others?”

Recently my friend Mel came to visit from Kodiak, Alaska. On her visit, we drove up to Charlotte to return her rental truck at the airport since she would be leaving from Greenville when she went home. Before we returned to Greenville, we stopped at a yarn store called Charlotte Yarns.

While we were there, we met another young girl in line to pay for her purchases. She actually found Mel’s phone that she left on a shelf. We also found out that she got engaged in March and she showed us her engagement ring. She was very nice and we had a lovely conversation.

As Mel was paying, she asked the lady if they sold gift cards and they did so Mel bought one. I figured that she was going to give it to a friend of hers who had moved to Charlotte. But as we were leaving, she turned to the young girl and gave her the gift card.

What a thoughtful thing to do! I wish I was more spontaneous and giving like that.

I overthink too much! I tend to wonder how the person will perceive the gift or how others will perceive my gift-giving. I wonder if I will offend the other person or others will see me as a show-off. I guess I think too much. I want to be more giving like Mel was.

I try to give others support and encouragement when I can. I try to give others my time when it is needed. I’m just not sure if I’m giving enough.

Her actions really inspired me. It warms my heart to know that there are people like Mel in the world. I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by so many friends and family who seem to constantly give me support and encouragement. I hope that I am able to pass it forward as generously.

Who inspires you? Are you giving to others? Please share.

Photo by Sean Kowal on Unsplash

Bibs and Aprons

In What Do You Wear? A Bib or Apron from Cool Cat Teacher Blog by coolcatteacher@gmail.com, Victoria A Davis, Cool Cat Teacher, shares,

“Once I heard a person talk about relationships like a gas tank. You’re either filling the tank (wearing an apron) or causing the person to expend energy on you (bib.) If you use too much of their energy without putting anything back, people will eventually no longer want to be around you.”

This really resounded with me. I think most people wear both at different times in their lives. I don’t it is possible to be one or the other.

I think most people would like to think they are wearing an apron and helping others. By doing this you feel more in charge. You are the one taking action.

When you are wearing the bib, or you are having other people put energy on you, then you are the passive person. It is hard to always be the one taking. I think this hurts people's self-concept.

That is why I think it is important to wear the apron and the bib at different times when you need to. You shouldn’t be embarrassed about wearing either one of them. The only time we should worry if we do one exclusively because I don’t think that is healthy.

As parents, we like our children to learn to give. We teach them it is better to give than to take. I think that is why it is hard for some children to learn because they are embarrassed about being on the other side. They see that being helped is a weakness and they don’t want to appear to be weak.

We should teach our children that it is good to give and take. The important thing is the balance of give-and-take. We shouldn't constantly be giving so much that we lose ourselves in the giving. Sometimes we forget to watch out for ourselves and our health when we keep giving. When we keep taking from others, we tend to be spoiled and we forget how to put in hard work to make things happen.

People don't mind helping others but when they feel they are giving all the time and the other person is taking all the time, they feel unappreciated or being taken for granted. In the same respect those people who are always being helped, may experience learned helplessness or feel like they are not capable of doing something. This may cause them to be afraid to try new things.

How do you feel about aprons and bibs? Which one do you wear? Please share.

Photo: 123 Bib for Marlysa by Amy White

Giving is a Good Thing

In Kudos Cards – Showing Appreciation – A Win-Win-Win Situation from Success In the Classroom, Sam shares,

“When we give to others, it not only makes the recipient happy, but research has confirmed what we’ve known all along – the giver gets a dose of happiness as well.”

Sam talks about giving kudos cards to faculty when he notices something good that they have done. It is a great way for an administrator to praise teachers. Like students, teachers like getting praise also. I had a principal who would send me an email and thank me for coming to an extracurricular activity. It made me feel good to know that he recognized I was spending my own time to support the students.

At one school, we had postcards from the school that we could send home praising a student for things such as good grades, good behavior, or anything extra we saw that the student did that was worthy of praise. The school paid for the postage. I know it made me feel good to praise my students and the students told me that they were happy when their parents got this. Some parents even saved every postcard that I sent home.

Many of my students came from low income families and were often on the receiving end of gift giving during holidays or the beginning of school. They felt good that someone cared enough to help them.

When I started doing some service learning activities with my class, the class was very excited. One year, we met flag pins that the students colored and then glued on a pin backing. On Veteran’s Day, my class went to the Veteran’s ceremony in our county and distributed the flag pins to everyone who showed up. Many of the veterans thanked my students and made them feel special for giving. After that activity, my students wanted to do more.

Another activity that my high school special education class did was to read Dr. Seuss books to a special education class at the elementary school once a month. Each of my students was paired with a young student and they went to a separate area to read together. We made cupcakes and brought some juice for after the activity. Many of the younger students bonded with the older students and their teacher said behavior improved tremendously in her classroom. Sometimes the younger students shared their “troubles” and my students could encourage them or make them feel cared for.

Once my students learned how good it felt to be giving, they were always looking for other activities that our class could get involved in. I think they liked doing it as a class activity because they felt “safe” doing it all together. There was less chance of feeling out of place or maybe being judged. Eventually some of my students would start learning to give to others on their own.

Hopefully, once my students left my classroom, they learned to continue to give in their own ways. I think they learned that even though it was great to receive from others, it also felt good to give to others.

How do you teach your students about giving? Please share.