Teaching Students to Have a Servant's Heart
Tualatin Valley Academy's first and second grade students are learning about service this Christmas.
Mrs. Wendt and Mr. Darby are dedicated to Project Based Learning (PBL). PBL is a technique that helps students engage in learning in a dynamic environment. They study real-world problems and work to solve them. The classes have done things like study farming, learn about other careers, and this month, they are learning about serving others. Each learning module combines a variety of STEAM-based teaching techniques to enhance students' learning ranging from crafts to computer projects to engineering to comparing and contrasting related literature and then writing their own version.
As part of these projects each student and their parents work together on a monthly homework assignment. This month's assignment is all about service. Students are doing chores for family, friends and neighbors to earn money to buy fun bandaids and toys for patients at Randall Children's Hospital. They are learning the value of giving of themselves to help others who need it - helping to brighten someone's day through their own actions and hard work.
The students are excited and eager to earn as much as they can to help the kids at Randall's, and they will be giving a presentation to their class at the end of the project about what they learned by giving of themselves to help others.
It's an important lesson that will last a lifetime.
