Teach Your Children Well

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.

                      - Sir Winston Churchill

While in Montana this summer, I had the always-pleasurable opportunity to visit with my friend, Ben Kestner, educator extraordinaire, and his beautiful wife and daughter.   They were in the states on leave from their current residence in Waterloo, Belgium, where Ben holds the post of Principal of the Middle School at St John’s International School. 

Though Ben and I shared many inspiring and uplifting conversations, the details of the Pay it Forward experience his students participated in was most memorable. So, I asked him to write out the story, and for permission to share it here on the 51% Project blog.

It seems fitting to share Ben’s story with you today, as this weekend our friends Charley Johnson of The Pay it Forward Experience - www.PIFexpereince.org, and James and Alicia Hadlock, of Soul Centers Resort - www.Soulcenters.org, were to host the First Annual Pay it Forward Conference in Heber City, UT. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond their control, the conference has been postponed. Look for updates on rescheduling here at The 51% Project in the months ahead. In the meantime, please visit the websites linked above and be inspired, uplifted and changed by the stories and words of wisdom they share.

Above all, keep the movement going forward, as Ben and his students are doing.

Susan and I hope you’ll be as moved and motivated as we are by this beautiful lesson in “Right Action.” Wouldn’t it be nice if we all incorporated the principles of Ben’s CARE campaign into our lives – and of course, paid it forward every day!

Paying it Forward in Waterloo, Belgium

250 Middle school student streamed into the theatre at our school last October to watch Mimi Leder’s film, Pay it Forward, staring Kevin Spacy and Helen Hunt.  The film was to act as a stimulus for conversations in their “advisories” across the three grades, 6th, 7th and 8th and was timed to coincide with a new campaign at school – “CARE (Communicate, Assist, Respect, Encourage) at St. John’s.”

Creating, or nurturing, a climate of ‘CARE’ is crucial in schools and is a huge part of the curriculum framework we developed which looks at ‘key competences’ we want our kids to know and master across all subjects and, indeed, through their lives in and out of school. This competency based curriculum approach differs from pure knowledge based curriculum, which ‘prepares’ kids for high stakes testing and trains them to be extraordinary ‘regurgitaters’. In a competency based (skills based) framework, the emphasis is on skills or qualities that we see as vital for their lifelong learning and wellbeing.

The 7 key competences which run through our curriculum are:

     Knower of Self
     Global Connector
     Creator
     Communicator
     Collaborator
     Explorer
     Thinker

An example: say you are a Math teacher. You teach Math right? Wrong. You help students to understand Math through these competences. How much does your kid know about her or himself; how can Math connect to the world and how do other cultures approach math; what can you create using math; how can you communicate through math, how do you collaborate, explore and think?

Now back to the film or movie! The idea of doing something for someone else fits in with exactly what we are trying to achieve through the competencies. It involves caring, sure, but you also need to be able to connect and communicate.

If you seen the movie than you will understand that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house at the end (I won’t give away exact details in case you haven’t seen it – but encourage you to go rent it today!!!) We had a brief feedback session immediately following the viewing and then the kids made their way back to their advisories. The conversations I popped in on were fascinating. There was a real sense of injustice initially about the end of the movie. They didn’t want it to end the way it did, but then came the ideas for action! Grade 6 already had a ‘make a difference’ day in place and decided to use themes from the film to help plan it.

What stood out the most as I made my way around the school in the weeks that followed, was a real sense of well-being, a feeling backed up by some wonderful examples of paying it forward, from the girl who stayed on by herself after a basketball game to tidy up the bleachers without telling anyone, to offers of helping students who seemed to be unhappy or bullied. Doing things for others without reward.

An important aspect of any organization – business, school, family, community -  is a sense of shared values - a common ground amongst all involved.  As more and more people experience the well-being that comes from mutual respect and genuine caring, it creates a tipping point - (51%). The more we can spread the love; the more love will be spread. Give a little love and it all comes back to you.

I’d be happy to share more information about our curriculum or if you are passing through Belgium, pop by our school and I’ll show you around.

Ben Kestner

You will find a link to Ben’s blog in our sidebar or follow him on twitter @kestnertweet.