Tom Webb, who teaches in Walden's M.S. in Education program, says that it's easy to get youngsters involved in community service. It's instilling philanthropic values that carry over to adulthood that is a challenge, but one being met by teachers like himself, with the help of an organization called Learning to Give.

Learning to Give, which promotes philanthropy among youth in grades K–12, was founded in 1997 with grant support from the Council of Michigan Foundations and the efforts of a group of 34 "founding teachers," which includes Webb, who teaches in the Fulton Public Schools in Middleton, Mich. 

Learning to Give is a grass-roots, teacher-led effort to infuse academic content about philanthropy and service learning into the classroom curriculum. The organization does this in several ways, most notably through the free units and lesson plans it offers to teachers. Webb, who teaches seventh-grade social studies, computer science and math, has developed several units for middle schoolers. One unit, "Making the Connection: Core Democratic Values and Philanthropy," emphasizes volunteerism and philanthropy not just as moral obligations, but also as American cultural traditions that not all nations share.

"Historically, what American government can't or won't do for its people, service organizations have picked up. This is not true of all countries," Webb explains. "In 'Making the Connection,' I ask students to do an assessment of which services their community most needs."

The final activity in the unit asks students to participate in a project they select that reinforces the connection between giving and the core democratic values (for example, justice, diversity, patriotism, liberty). "These service projects vary according to the communities. Students have done everything from helping seniors do their grocery shopping to refurbishing urban walls with murals," Webb adds.

Webb draws on the success of the Learning to Give curricula to help his Walden students create lesson plans that are effective and easy to implement. "The lessons follow a set format that covers everything from standards and objectives to instructional steps and assessment," Webb says. "I also use my experience in developing curricula to assist students in their endeavors to write good lessons and units that will meet their students' needs."

Teachers can visit Learning to Give's Web site, http://www.learningtogive.org/, which contains several hundred lesson plans and free resources. Learning to Give also offers a Summer Institute, where a select number of Indiana and Michigan teachers come for free training. Learning to Give's classroom units are aligned with Indiana and Michigan state content standards, but teachers and other educators from all over the United States and the world use the lessons.

"I believe the Web site receives more than 150,000 hits a month," Webb says. "Teachers are using our lesson plans as far away as Korea."

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