You’d have to be mad!

19 Replies

That is, as in M.A.D. — Making a Difference.

I love to hear of children being involved in projects that help others, that aim to make a difference to the world. I have previously written about some of those projects here, here, and here.  Sarah Brentyn, who blogs at Lemon Shark, often shares about the wonderful ways in which she and her boys are making a positive difference in their community.

This week I read about the M.A.D. projects of Canadian teacher Peter Cameron (a.k.a. Mr. C) and his students. At the beginning of the school year Mr. C challenged his students with the question, “What will you do to make a difference?” The projects, which were selected, organised, and conducted by the students, were recently completed. They included things such as:

  • Helping others on snowy days by shovelling driveways
  • Helping parents, grandparents, and great grandparents
  • Giving compliments
  • Supporting Doctors Without Borders
  • Helping the elderly
  • Helping at the Humane Society
  • Keeping their school tidy
  • Assisting the homeless by collecting socks, making supper, and hot chocolate
  • Encouraging kids to eat healthy, and to spend more time outdoors.
  • You can see a celebration of their projects in this video.

Mr. C. said that it was one of the most rewarding aspects of his 20+ years teaching career. The acknowledgement received from their member of parliament in the Canadian House of Commons, and his encouragement for others to join in, further affirmed the merit of the project.

Now Mr C. is reaching out to other classes around the world to join in with their M.A.D. projects and form a Global Make a Difference Team in which participants “complete a M.A.D Project to help make our world an even better, happier, healthier place to live”.  Their goal is to have 100+ classes join in. Will yours be one of them?

To make it easy, Mr. C is making available to teachers all of his resources which may be modified to suit individual classes and situations. He says,

“The goal is simple: challenge your school, class, clubs and individual or groups of students to make a difference and see where it takes them! Be sure to let us know that your school/class will be participating and fill in the form to add your class to our M.A.D map!”

Places on the map are so far confined to North America. How wonderful it would be for locations to be added from all around the world. Children would see not only the differences they are making in their own communities, but also the positive actions of others around the world, which may in turn, inspire further projects.

Be sure to let us know of other projects that involve children in making a difference. I know there are many, some conducted by organisations, and others by individuals and families. They are what give us hope for the future.

Thank you

Thank you for reading. I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

19 thoughts on “You’d have to be mad!”

  2. Dave

    I recently set up a Facebook page specifically for students of English as a foreign language (probably called ESL in Canada, I might be wrong) to spread communication, friendship & understanding around the globe. It’s at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1363377980346198/ and it’s called International Speakers of English. If people are willing to talk to each other, most problems can be sorted out amicably or avoided altogether.
    The page is completely non-political, not-for-profit and open to anyone. I set it up just to see if anybody would respond. 5 people in the first 24 hours signed up so clearly the will is there.
    Why not ask your kids if they’d be interested and help us to spread tolerance through mutual understanding and respect? That’s got to be a good thing, eh?

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  4. Sarah Brentyn

    Oh! I love this! (Of course, you knew that…and thank you kindly for the mention.) 💕 Mr. C has the right idea. The idea to “make a difference” should be worldwide and is so easy to start with young ones. What a wonderful project. I especially like the kids being so involved. I want to join! I want everyone I know to join. What a difference we can make with just a bit of time/effort/desire to help. Will be back to watch the videos after my fun-filled fairy weekend. 🌻🌺🌼

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    1. Norah Post author

      I can’t help but think of you and your boys when I read posts like that. You do it by yourselves without the need of an organisation. Others need to be organised, but if it gets them involved in ways they wouldn’t otherwise, then that’s a good thing.
      Enjoy your fairy weekend. I’m sure you’ll be getting all the fairies into MAD! 🙂

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    2. mrcameron14

      Thanks so much Norah for sharing my students’ idea! They are passionate about spreading their MAD project to at least 100 other classes/organizations throughout the world next year! Can’t wait to see their idea spread! Best thing I’ve done in 20 years of teaching!

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  6. Susan Scott

    What a wonderful project! I also heard that schools should as a matter of course have their pupils involved in community projects – it happens here in South Africa. Thanks Norah for this lovely reminder … if we all helped each other the world would be more beautiful in every way –

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Norah Post author

      How wonderful that schools in South Africa get involved in community projects as a matter of course. That beautiful world is definitely something to aim for. Thank you for reading and commenting, Susan.

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