Class of the Week – Pilgrim Wood Public School – Ms Minnie

Amazing Class of the Week!

School of the Week Teacher: Lisa Minnie

Grade: Grade 2 Gifted

School: Pilgrim Wood Public School

School Board: Halton District School Board

1. What is the biggest impact/change you saw in your class?

I was so impressed by the level of empathy, compassion and altruism that this project brought out in my students.

I continued to be blown away by the many ways that they found to make a difference, even at a young age— Lisa Minnie, teacher

From the start, each student came up with such creative and inspiring ways to make a difference in the world, and I was amazed by how quickly this motivation to ‘pay it forward’ and help others spilled over to have a positive impact on our day to day classroom atmosphere. As they heard about other students’ projects and researched their own causes, they became much more globally aware and motivated to try to create positive changes on issues that were relevant and important to them. Many, if not most, of the students have continued with their Nobody experiences after their week with Nobody was over (or have come up with other ways to help with other important causes).

2. What is the biggest impact/change in one of your students and please share an example of one student’s project:

Each student put a lot of thought and effort into their projects to come up with unique ways to help NOBODY become a SOMEBODY, and they were very proud to share their experiences with the class. I think the first project set the tone for the entire class, and inspired everyone to go above and beyond to help support their chosen cause. When we started our Nobody projects in January, the first student decided to return his not yet opened Christmas present to the store in order to have a sizable donation to support each of the two Giant Pandas who were scheduled to come to the Toronto Zoo this Spring. Although he said that he really liked his toy and was looking forward to playing with it, in order to come up with his donation, he decided to use the money instead towards this conservation project to help the Giant Pandas.

3. Please tell us about an example of one project that made you go WOW!
I am so proud of each and every one of the students in my class for the level of altruism that they have shown throughout all of the Nobody experiences. To tell the truth, each and every student’s Nobody project made me go “WOW!”, as I continued to be blown away by the many ways that they found to make a difference, even at a young age. They were able to raise awareness and/or substantial amounts of money for so many diverse and important causes, such as Free the Children, the Toronto Zoo, the Oakville Humane Society, Hands4Hope, Kerr Street Ministries, Painted Rock Animal Farm & Sanctuary, the World Food Programme, Terracycle, Plan Canada’s Gifts of Hope, World Wildlife Fund, Malala’s Girls’ Education Fund, and the Mikey Network’s Mikey Defibrillators. To help the environment, one student even braved the cold every day of her week with NOBODY (which happened to be the coldest week of the year!), to heighten awareness of the need to stop littering by walking with a sign and cleaning up garbage at the local GO Transit station.