Claim 3
Students are contributing to a better world through service learning.
Contributing to a Better World
Brighten Academy students are reaching out to the world through service learning projects. Our school started as a project based school, and since our partnership with EL began, each year our students extend their impact to outside their classrooms. In examining what it means to contribute to a better world, they have engaged in projects that have a direct impact on the community outside their classroom. From other classrooms to across the world, Brighten Academy students are contributing to a better world by helping others.
Primary Grades
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Our kindergarten students have developed relationships with elderly residents of a nearby assisted living residence. In the past, our students would have studied living and non-living things in their classroom, possibly by linking this to real animals and plants. In their EL language arts instructional module, students have learned about how to take care of trees, and they shared their knowledge with the residents. Our students presented the residents with trees to plant in their garden. They have learned that caring for each other, unconditional love, and unlimited hugs develops a bond that is powerful, in addition to what makes something living or non-living. |
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First graders embarked on a study of birds that included experts from local extension offices, state parks, and the Audubon Society. After learning about how birds are essential to our ecology and about environmental threats to birds, they committed to helping. The students raised money to protect bird habitats, and they installed birdhouses to provide homes for local birds. In the past, a typical first grade project might have included reading a book about birds and writing an informational paragraph. Partnering with EL has challenged our students to not only learn about a topic, but to solve a real world problem involving that topic. Our students’ depth of knowledge about the topic has grown tremendously, along with their commitment to help their community understand too.
Click on the work samples below to see more.
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Our second graders researched animals native to Georgia. A few years ago, the students collectively wrote an informational book on their findings and presented it to our media center. This year, their efforts culminated in developing videos linked to a screen readable code for a local zoo. The screen readable codes are placed throughout the zoo near the animal habitats, and visitors can scan the code and watch our 2nd graders present their researched information about the animal. Our students have come a long way from a stapled book of writings to a technological aid at a popular zoo! Our students will contribute to the education of zoo visitors for years to come.
Click on the pictures below or scan the QR codes to hear our students present their research.
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Intermediate Grades
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Our third graders collected books for our sister school in Ethiopia (similarly named Brighton Academy), and they continue to collect books for students in need. Our students’ giving hearts were sparked studying how students in other parts of the world get books to read. They were intrigued at how difficult this is for some children. They vowed to help, set a goal of books to donate, then proceeded to shatter the goal. Marley, a third grader, said, “It makes you feel good to help other kids because they don’t have a lot of books.” In the past, students have participated in a wax museum or another similar type of activity. Parents and other classrooms were invited to attend as students gave a short presentation on their character. This EL module project helped students look beyond themselves to another school with very different needs across the world. |
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Fifth-grade students visited the zoo. They were intrigued by the elephants, which gave way to a study of elephants. They discovered that elephants were being killed for their tusks, and they were outraged. They held a penny war to raise awareness and money to help establish elephant sanctuaries. They raised over $1400 to send to the zoo and various non-profit organizations committed to saving elephants. Claire, a fifth grader with an affinity for elephants, said she “didn’t realize how many elephants were dying so people could make money” referring to the sale of elephant tusks. She said this project “changed her way of thinking” and helped her to be “kind and generous.” |
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Our fifth graders have advocated for veterans rights for the past few years, and their outreach has stretched to Washington, D.C. As part of their study of veterans and human rights, not only did students read and research, but they were compelled to advocate for better health care and benefits. In the past, reading about interviews with veterans from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, The Gulf War, and the Iraqi War were the standard. Since becoming an EL school, actual interviews—veterans from all wars were invited to our school—gave our students first-hand experience with the problems facing veterans today. As the project has evolved, a skype call to Mr. Robert McDonald, former Secretary of Veteran Affairs, encouraged our students to keep advocating for veterans’ rights. Their celebration of learning included advocating to local and state politicians to start a grass roots effort to affect change for veterans. Their focus this year is to tell the veterans’ stories. As the veterans of our wars age, the students felt their stories were important to preserve. They have begun to document these offering their products to a World War II museum in Birmingham. From summaries of writings with no emotional attachment to using primary sources to retell a real person’s story, our students have increased their impact on their quality of work and our community with this expedition. |
Click on the work samples below to see more.
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Middle School Grades
Click the photos to see excerpts from each manual.
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Our middle school students worked on publishing a crew manual for use in other non-EL middle schools in our county. Conflict resolution, peer relations, mental health discussions, and habits of scholarship are a few of the topics addressed. Students worked collaboratively to analyze some of their most pressing issues and how to handle this stress as a middle school student. Their work was presented at a local counselor’s meeting hoping that other students in our county could benefit from their reflections on crew and the 7 Cs. Their goal is to present to the local school system’s board for approval in all middle schools. They feel their work is important to share with other middle schoolers. Our middle school has struggled to find a good fit with a project that impacted more than just our school community. We were excited to see our middle schoolers involved in this timely work, as our country has been rocked by many traumatic events this past year. This is a new expedition for our middle school students. |
Looking Back...
Our school started out as a project based school. We realized that we defined project based as a product that was not a worksheet. Students were not graded on attention to craftsmanship, complexity, or authenticity. An authentic audience did not play a role in our projects, and projects often lacked purpose outside of academic benefit to the student.
Looking Forward...
Our students’ work has grown in complexity, authenticity, and craftsmanship after becoming an EL network school! Students have learned to uncover an issue or problem, then take steps to do something about it. We continue to improve our expeditions tackling real world problems, and some of our grade levels are doing exemplary work in this area. One of our performance benchmarks is our students cultivate a sense of community contributing to a better world. We will continue to improve with doing important work that matters. Our students have participated in projects benefiting our local, state, national, and global communities and are truly contributing to a better world.
