The Gift of Generosity
Building Community
Teacher Lesson Guide
(swipe to advance)
Objectives
Empathy
Kindness
Collaboration
Lesson Design
45-60 Minutes
5 Min: Review Learning Objectives
20 Min: Literary Discussion: Anansi and the Pot of Wisdom
5 Min: Intuition Activity: Co-Op Inventory
10 Min: Reinforcing Activity: Collaborative Puzzle
3 Min: Closing Activity
Objectives
Engage in an open dialogue surrounding cooperation and generosity
Identify the necessary attributes of cooperation
Practice strategies of kindness and generosity
Lingo List
Generosity Language
generous
share
considerate
gracious
helpful
thoughtful
honest*
hospitable
tolerant
unselfish
magnanimous
altruistic
Collaboration Language
appreciative
thankful
gratitude
attentive
please
courteous
just
kindness
friendly
trustworthy
tolerant
sincere
equitable
Kind Actions
be empathetic
support
be sympathetic
listen
protect
care
help
cooperate
service
aid
celebrate
praise
honor
appreciate
recognize
Research shows that thinking compassionately about other people not only makes a person happier, but also healthier, both physically and mentally. Kindness and generosity have been linked to longevity and reduced risk for diseases.
A commitment to caring, compassion and cooperation is a choice that young people can practice. These skills can be positively reinforced by noting these behaviors when they occur. We can also help children gain awareness of how their kind, caring acts and support of one another shifts their moods in positive directions, making them feel better about themselves.
Guiding Questions for Class:
What does it mean to cooperate? What does it mean if someone says kindness is contagious? What makes someone generous? How do you feel when you share?
Reading:
Anansi and the Pot of Wisdom
Long ago, at the beginning of the world, people could not solve their problems. Nyame, the sky god, looked down and felt sorry for humans. He said, “I will send wisdom to the people. Then, they can solve problems.
Anansi, the spider man, overheard Nyame’s plan. He said, “That is a good idea. Give the wisdom to me, and I will take it down to the people.”
Nyame trusted the selfish trickster. He put his wisdom in a big clay pot and gave it to Anansi. “This wisdom is more valuable than gold or silver,” he said. “Take this to the people so that they can solve their problems.”
Anansi took the pot down to the earth. Then, he looked inside. It was full of wonderful ideas and skills. “I will use this wisdom first,” he said to himself. “Then, I will give it to the people.” Each day, Anansi opened the pot and learned new things.
After many days, Anansi said greedily, “This wisdom is too valuable to share. I must keep it all to myself.” He decided to hide it on the top of a tall tree where no human could climb. But how could he carry such a heavy pot up the tree? Anansi had an idea. He gathered some strong vines and tied them around the pot. Then, he tied the other end around his waist. He started to climb, but the dangling pot kept getting caught in the branches.
Anansi’s young son saw his father’s struggle. “Father,” the boy said, “if you tie the pot to your back, it will be much easier for you to hold on to the tree and climb.”
Anansi followed his son’s advice and tied the pot to his back. The rest of the climb was easier.
When he got to the top, he looked down at his son and thought, “What a fool I am! I have the pot of wisdom, yet a little boy had more common sense than I did. What use is all of this wisdom to me?” Anansi angrily threw the pot to the ground, where it smashed into millions of pieces. The wisdom scattered all over the world. People found bits of the wisdom and took them home to their families. That is why no one person has all of the wisdom in the world and why we share wisdom with each other when we exchange ideas.
Open-Ended Questions:
After the reading, debrief the story using the open-ended questions below.
Empathy
Tell about a time when someone shared with you and it surprised you.
Tell about a time when you shared with someone else unexpectedly
How does it feel when someone shares with you?
What does it feel like to be excluded?
Kindness
When working with others how should they be treated?
How does it feel when someone in the group does not help as much as others?
What makes working together difficult?
Collaboration
What can you do if someone treats you disrespectfully?
What can you do when a person isn’t working as hard in a group to solve the problem in a kind way?
Is it fair to ask the teacher to switch groups if you don’t like your team? Why?
What are some ways to be generous every day?
Intuition Activity: Co-Op Inventory
Purpose: To allow the group of students to explore each other’s teammate qualities.
Instructions:
If in-person, have the students sit in a circle. Virtually, ask everyone to put on their cameras.
Tell participants that they will take turns sharing a quality that they would like to have in others on a team or in a work group. Write these qualities on the (white)board. Examples might be: respectful, listener, works hard, practices a lot, supportive, helpful, knows how to play the game, etc. (see lingo list for more words to help students differentiate language).
Keep an expectation for each answer to be unique so that deep vocabulary might be experienced.
Review the qualities that you have heard. Then have the participants raise their hands for each quality that they think they possess that makes them a good teammate. Give examples using the qualities if students need additional prompting.
At the end have 3 people share anecdotes.
Reinforcing Activity: Collaborative Puzzle
Purpose: To work together to create a group puzzle
Instructions
Have students spread out so they aren’t sitting right next to anyone else. Give each student a piece of the 25-piece puzzle.
Ask the students to look at their piece and guess (in their heads) what the puzzle will look like.
Then have them get into groups of 4 and guess what the puzzle will look like when it’s all put together.
Then have the students with the four corner pieces put them on the designated table.
Next, have the students with a border piece (piece with a straight side) go and find the place around the border where their puzzle piece goes.
Finally, have the students with an inside piece go to the table and put their piece in the puzzle. By this time the puzzle should be complete.
Upon completion of the puzzle, use the following questions to discuss the activity:
Debrief
Was the puzzle what you thought it would look like when you only had one piece?
When could you guess? (1 piece, 4 pieces, or the whole puzzle) Did you imagine the picture correctly?
Why was it easier with more pieces in place?
Discuss: When each person contributes what they can (their puzzle piece) you can have a whole puzzle. When each person is by themselves, they only have one piece.
Inquire as to their preference, “Would you rather have, one piece or the whole?”
Ask how the puzzle exercise applies to the book you read?
Discuss how everyone has something different to offer, working together and caring for each other you can do more.
What examples can you think of for things that you can do better with everyone working together? (Example: Cleaning your room or classroom).
Closing Activity
Let’s end with a closing circle activity that will remind us of what we learned as a team.
Today, we learned ways in which we interact with one another and how respect and kindness affect the quality of collaboration. Working together isn’t always easy but success is more likely when we treat each other with courtesy and caring.
COME FULL CIRCLE- Open-Ended Questions
What new words did you learn today concerning kindness and generosity?
How can we identify when others might need caring support?
In what ways does sharing help a classroom? How does sharing help outside the class?
What are some things we can each do to be more generous at our school, or with friends and family?
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