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My Change the World project

It's the season where my seniors choose projects and mentors and their futures. They amaze me with their creativity again this year. Inspired by our local food bank, Food for People, a group has decided to volunteer as gleaners for valley farms to donate produce to food banks and weekend backpack programs for kids, and another group from our HROP culinary program has committed to offering a multi-part cooking class for food-insecure members of the community, featuring donated produce and food bank foodstuffs. Another group has decided to take on public education about the risks of electronic cigarettes and the writing of county and city policies to prohibit their use in public. Worried about salmon and trout endangered by non-native squawfish populations, one group plans a fishing tournament to eradicate squawfish and encourage their fishing.

They do cool stuff. Last year, a student asked what my project would be, and his classmate piped up, "Um, duh. We're her project." I had to smile.

This year, I challenged myself to stretch out of my comfort zone and do what I can to make service project-based learning more accessible to different schools. I'm working with my good friend Rose Francia at Hoopa Middle School to write service curriculum for her 8th grade classes.

And I've decided to share the paperwork I've used with my seniors in the hopes that other schools can build from my efforts. I hope you find the shared folder useful on your journey to integrate service PBL into your literacy curriculum. I'd appreciate feedback. What could I do to help?

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