Making a difference

So while I was on observation I sat in on an English class. The teacher had given out an assignment at the beginning of the year called Making a Difference. Basically every student had to start making changes in their life starting with small changes in their personal lives and building to changes within the community. She led by example and had already made changes such as using a to-go mug for coffee and walking or biking to work three days a week. The students had to keep track of their changes and make some sort of record of them, such as photographs or videos. She got the students to report to the class what progress they had made. I thought this was awesome because the kids got excited about each others changes and encouraged those that were finding it hard. For example, one student who had decided to start eating more vegetarian meals a week was giving out recipes to those that felt this was too difficult. Another student had started peer tutoring a younger student. Another had taken up running.
During the class that I sat in on one student had mentioned doing a food drive and volunteering at a local soup kitchen. It was amazing because even before she had finished speaking she had managed to convince the class to do it together.
I was impressed that an English teacher would make this an assignment in her classroom and thought to myself how easy it would be to implement in a social studies class. What a way to teach kids that they can make a difference not only in their lives but in the the community. I recommend to everyone that we try this in our classrooms.