Amish+Lesson+Plan


 * Justice and Compassion in the Amish Community **


 * Lesson Five: Bringing Our Actions Home **


 * 1. **** Central Concepts: **
 * a.Local actions have global effects. **
 * b.Violence does not bring peace. **
 * c.Societies carry and foster different values. **


 * 2.Specific objectives: **
 * The object of this lesson is to peak student interest in community service projects. Through exploration of various community projects in their local area, students can //learn// how their local actions can affect others. Then by doing a service project in their own community, students can //experience// how their actions influence others. **
 * 3.Literacy skills and strategies used and developed: **
 * a.Students will read and research various community service projects available in their community. They will do this through online research, calling community service corporations in the phone book, and contacting local clubs and organizations that may offer community service project opportunities. **
 * b.Students will present their findings to other class members. **
 * c.Students will write a reflection paper describing what they have learned. **


 * 4.Cultural beliefs, values and perspectives that might impact the learning of these concepts and how the lesson addresses this potential impact: **
 * a.There may be some parents who are opposed to their child doing community service work for fear of their safety, so prior arrangements will need to be made to ensure the safety of all the students. **


 * 5.Step by step description of engagement process: **
 * a.Students will brainstorm, either individually, with a partner, or with a small group, various community service projects they might be interested in doing. Examples might include recycling stations, boxes for war soldiers, community clean up projects; help a farmer (or other community member) for the day, volunteer at a nursing home, big brother/sister programs, etc. **
 * b.Students will narrow their ideas down to 2-3 projects that they can research, find more information about locally, etc. They can research how to go about conducting the service project in a variety of ways including internet research, contacting local clubs and organizations, looking up corresponding companies in the phone book, etc. **
 * c.After students have gathered up information about their projects, they will briefly present their findings to the class, so that each student has a comfortable knowledge with the various community service opportunities available in their local community. **
 * d.As a class, students will choose 1-2 projects to do, and then, using the gathered research, students will conduct ongoing projects throughout the year (not just when this unit is over). **
 * e.At the end of the unit, students will write a 1-2 page reflection describing what they have learned from this lesson. **


 * 6.Meaningful assessment tied to concepts and purpose: **
 * a.Assessment will be measured through research presentations conducted over initial community service ideas. **
 * b.Assessment will be measured through participation in the community service projects. **
 * c.Assessment will be measured in the reflection paper. **


 * 7.Materials and resource list: **
 * a.local (or nearby towns) phone books for contact to local clubs and organizations **