Learning for a Cause: A New Teaching Model

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Today more than ever, we, as teachers, are faced with the challenge of teaching a curriculum that is ever increasing in its demands. One demand is that teachers not only address particular subjects, but also that they draw links to other subjects. The aim of this reform is to show students how disciplines interact; for example, one might use math to create a piece of artwork, or artwork to write a piece of poetry. Digging deeper into the aims of modern educational reform, we see the need for teachers to demonstrate how learning applies in the outside world. Finally, if they can also work in a direct link or perhaps a partnership with the community, their work might be considered a success.

In my effort for classroom success, I created a new teaching framework which I have dubbed “Learning for a Cause.” This project used the not-so-new idea of producing a book of classroom poetry while studying the literary form, but the reaches of the project extended much further than the Xerox Press. I designed the project to partner with the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation as a fund raising activity—the link to the community. I went to a reputable, cost effective self-publishing service provider and worked out some special terms, and our book was on its way to store shelves equipped with ISBN, bar codes and everything a published book needs.

Students experienced cross-curricular learning at its best during this project. In preparing the manuscript the students learned in the domains of writing, editing and illustrating, and the technology requirements even required learning in math and information technology. Once the book was off to the press, the students set to work on promotion and pre-sales—enter marketing, organizational skills, goal setting and more information technology. Soon after the first copy left the store shelves, my students began learning math and finance again with the keeping of the bank account, projecting sales and so on. As you can see, the project not only conquered the cross-curricular objective, but also applied learning in many disciplines in a real life situation.

Another important area of learning in this project was the cause. In their investigation of the philanthropic aspects of the project, the students had to grapple with which charity to support and why. In seeking out answers to these questions, the students acquired valuable skills in how to evaluate the barrage of charitable requests that we face on a daily basis in modern society.

In the end, one of the very best results was seeing the beaming smiles of fifty-five students as they became published writers. A success overall, the “Learning for a Cause” model will frame a new project in my class once again next year.

The student’s book, Per Sempre, is available from amazon.com
For more information on Learning for a Cause you may contact Michael Sweet at Michael@ThePoetryReview.com