Inspiring people to practice kindness and pass it on to others
Lesson Plans & Pilot Program
Learn about our new pilot program to effectively teach kindness in schools.
LEARN MORE
Seeking a Cure Through Music
Lisa Ostrow, Massachusetts
Video Synopsis:
Music has always been a part of Lisa Ostrow's life, from growing up with a father who played in an orchestra, to ten years of professional instruction on the piano herself, to having three daughters who all have musical gifts. What she didn't know was how music would play such a huge role in her life after she found out her twin daughters had PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease). In 2007 Lisa released a musical CD that not only included her incredible piano playing and angelic voice but also had the whole family contributing on tracks on the album, which made it into iTunes' top 100 on the easy listening section. What makes the album even more special is that all proceeds are being donated to help find a cure for PKD. In addition, Lisa is fast becoming a spokesperson for PKD, helping educate and build awareness of a common disease that few know about. Also, she and her children are outspoken about educating people with respect to organ donation and the importance such a gift can make. A mom with a musical gift who is giving back in amazing ways to help solve the challenge of PKD, not just for her daughters but for the millions worldwide who have this disease. Oh, and if all of this were not enough, there's one other thing we forgot to mention. We'll let Lisa tell you in her own words: "I'm Lisa, and I happen to be blind."
Suggested for: Traditional schools, alternative programs, youth groups, community centers
Suggested grade use: 5-12
Quick Start
Pre-video Discussion points: Time: 10 min
21st Century skills used: LIS-CT, LIS-CI, CS-CL
- How would you describe community?
- Who is part of your community?
- What would you do if you had twin children with a disease? What if you learned the disease had no cure?
- What comes to your mind when you think about people with disease? Do you think it is your responsibility to do anything about it? Is it your community’s responsibility?
- What do you know about Massachusetts? Is Massachusetts a good place to get medical care? What about your community, is it a good place to get care?
- What do you think a parent should do for a sick child?
Video Link: Please scroll down to view the video here, or check out the link below.
http://www.50in52journey.com/states/Massachusetts1.asp Time: 9:40 min
Post-video Discussion points: Time: 20 min +
21st Century skills: LIS-CT, LIS-CI, CS-HL
- What do you think about Lisa?
- How did Lisa use nutrition information to manage her children’s illness?
- How do you think the use of music will help Lisa’s daughters?
- How do you think Lisa’s daughters feel about their mother’s music?
- Do you think you would have come up with the same project as Lisa?
- What would you have done differently?
- What problems do you feel Lisa is solving?
- Would you consider their actions Kind actions? Why/Why not?
- What is Lisa’s community, who is in it?
Action: Time: 40 min
21st Century Skills: CS-CL, LIS-CT, LIS-CI
- Define as a group what your community is and who is in it
- Explore things that could be improved in your community.
- Tip, this is accomplished best as a brainstorming session. One suggested method: Give each student a post-it-note pad and a pen. Depending on attention span provide 1-5 minutes for the students to write one idea on each sheet, not fleshed out, just concept. Encourage student to write as many ideas as come into their head. At 5 minutes, or when they stop writing, collect all of the notes and begin grouping them by sticking them on the wall. Create a separate line for each similar idea/category/theme. Have the group determine which line has the most suggestions and choose that as the area your group will explore to provide a solution.
- After agreement has been reached discuss an activity/program/project the students can create to work on that problem.
- Develop groups to tackle the different sections that need to be researched, designed, developed. Be sure to utilize all possible new media tools in the project design as appropriate.
Create Kindness based community action: 40 min
21st Century Skills: LCS, LIS-CT, LIS-CI, IMT-ML, IMT-T
- Breakout into groups to do the groundwork for the class chosen activity.
ACTIVITY: Time determined by class
Post-activity: Time: 60 min
21st Century Skills: LCS, IMT
- Be sure to capture a video or photographs of the students in action and have the students develop a blog entry utilizing video and photos to report their results and how the project made them feel. Submit to RAK!
Life lessons explored:
- Overcoming obstacles
- Family unity
- Life choices
- Personal drive
- Personal passion
- Connection to community
Community lessons explored:
- Determining a need
- Building from the ground up
- Finding support
- Building a team
- Service to others
Kindness lessons explored:
- Care for another
- Doing over and above the expected for another
- Living with awareness of all in your community
21st Century Skills Explored:
Life and Career Skills (LCS)
- Initiative and Self Direction - Manage goals and time
- Social and Cross-Cultural skills - work effectively in diverse teams, work w/people in a range of social and cultural backgrounds
- Productivity and Accountability, manage projects, produce results
- Leadership and Responsibility - guide and lead others, be responsible to others
Learning and Innovation Skills (LIS)
- Critical thinking (LIS - CT)
- Systems thinking - analyze how each part interacts to create the outcome
- Make judgments through analysis, interpretation, reflection
- problem solving
- Creativity and Innovation (LIS - CI)
- use a wide range of ideas
- create new ideas
- be open and responsive to new ideas
- understand the real world limits of adopting new ideas
Information, Media and Technology Skills (IMT)
- Media Literacy (IMT - ML)
- Create media products using appropriate tools and effectively communicate to a diverse audience
- Technology (IMT - T)
- Use technology as a tool to research, organize, communicate
Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes (CS)
- Civic literacy (CS - CL)
- Civic engagement as defined "Individual and collective action designed to identify and address issues of public concern." "Civic engagement", American Psychological Association. Retrieved 11/26/07
- Health literacy (CS-HL)
- Understanding preventive physical and mental health measures, including proper diet, nutrition, exercise, risk avoidance and stress reduction
- Using available information to make appropriate health-related decisions
- Establishing and monitoring personal and family health goals
Suggested Materials:
- Video projection
- Internet
- Basic video editing software
- flip cameras or other basic video camera
- Additional materials as required by students for their impact/kindness project
Time:
Video watching: 10 min
Discussion time: 40 min
Group break-out: 60 min
Community/Kindness project: Time determined by group and action chosen
Report creation: 60 min
®2010, The Random Acts Of Kindness Foundation
1727 Tremont Place, Denver, CO 80202 • Phone: 800-660-2811 • Fax: 303-297-2919
www.randomactsofkindness.org
Guiding principles of 21st Century Skills from Partnership for 21st Century Skills: www.p21.org
Videos courtesy of 50 in 52 Journey (c) 2009
Comments
No one has commented on this item yet.