Speaker: Maria Hauersperger
How will the social and emotional learning books you requested benefit your students and/or classroom?
Maria Hauersperger: Hi! I'd like to talk a little bit about the impact I saw on my students after having completed the ThinkGive program last fall. One particular student was very strongly impacted and I'd like to quote from the survey that I sent out, her in her words of what the experience meant. She said "I grew and matured in the class. It made a really big impact on how I treat and think about others. I never cared about what happened to others or why they act like how they act until she told me that people go through their own problems in life that may affect how they act. I would hope that everyone who goes into her class leaves as a smarter, kinder, and more determined person. Perhaps, maybe they could make an impact in their community and let the ripple effect grow." This young lady is in fifth grade. Her family came to our town as immigrants. Very strong and determined young lady. And how wonderful that she, at the age of about 11 years old, is able to be so self reflective. And how wonderful to have the ThinkGive program be there to encourage her to ask herself some of these reflective questions. So thank you, ThinkGive. Thank you.
What impact does ThinkGive have at your organization or in your classroom?
Maria Hauersperger: So what impact does ThinkGive have on our school community? Last fall, when we did our gift to community, we chose to go out into the hallways, into around the building, outside the building, out to the playground area and we cleaned up trash, we cleaned up litter, and you would just have been amazed at the joy that the students had. It was fun. I had provided some little plastic gloves and many of them had never done anything like this. They, that was evident in their reflections, where they just mentioned how much they enjoyed doing that and some even indicated that they would go out into their communities when they got home and make their communities better by cleaning up.
Please share how a student(s) was impacted by participating in ThinkGive. If possible, highlight examples of growth in character, confidence
Maria Hauersperger: My fifth grade students last year were in my classroom for just nine weeks. I'd like to read a card that was given to me on the last day of school, along with a gift, from a student I had in that first nine week session. Dear Mrs. Hauersperger, I really love being in your Encore class. As I said many, many times, your class helped me become kinder and view the world differently. Now, even the littlest of things make my day and you're not the littlest of things, but just seeing you can make my day. Have an amazing summer. I share that with you as an example of the impact that the process of doing ThinkGive can have on students. ThinkGive provides a space and a framework for having conversations with ourselves, the self reflective questions, as well as to have those conversations with one another and to share the power of giving gifts of kindness and having that ripple effect. So I would just wanna thank you. Thank you for providing this program that is a, as I said, a framework for developing these character traits and building the confidence in these students to be kinder. Thank you.
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