Making an Impact Helps Students Learn

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• “That smells great!” my husband exclaims at dinner time.
• “I loved that book you recommended! Do you have another like it?” a student asks.
• “Thanks for helping our department diversify our literature choices,” says a colleague.

Comments like these give me joy. They give me joy because they let me know that what I do—for my family, my students, or my colleagues—makes a difference. It puts a light in my husband’s eye, sparks a student’s interest in reading, or expands the variety of neighbors our English department gets to help students know and love through novel studies. When I feel I am making a difference, a positive impact for Jesus, I experience passionate purpose, and I flourish. 

I want students to flourish, too. I want them to experience passionate purpose in their daily school lives. Like me, students flourish when they have the opportunity to make a difference—a positive impact for Jesus. What might that look like for students at an international Christian school?   

Right now my 8th grade EFL students are preparing to teach a lesson for the 4th and 5th grade EFL class. My students are asking so many questions about they article they’ll be reading—about refugees, about vocabulary, about pronunciation, and about grammar. They’re asking these questions because they really want to understand and get it right. Why? They know the elementary students will be seeing them as models, looking to them for answers.

This week my 6th and 7th grade English language arts class gave and received peer feedback on their writing. I told them it was a chance to use their learning to help their neighbors right in their class. The added advantages are they can get more immediate feedback than when I collect and respond to the whole class, and they can see all the writing moves their classmates have tried. They took it quite seriously.

Eleven years ago, my daughter was deeply affected by a senior project at the international Christian school she attended. It was on a global issue that results in mistreatment of the creation or the neighbors that God calls us to care for and love. The project involved a research paper, personal involvement in addressing the issue, and a community presentation to raise awareness and answer questions. Her issue was girls’ education. Eleven years later, the project continues. Some of this year's topics were internet discernment, ocean pollution, and rights and support for those with Autism Spectrum Disorder. 

I’ve seen other opportunities for older students to make a difference in younger students’ lives by sharing learning about God’s creation. An annual zoo field trip involving a partnership between the high school biology class and the first graders. An annual amusement park trip pairing the high school physics and middle school physical science classes (some calculation of the action of forces required). Reading buddies where a secondary or upper elementary class regularly pairs with an elementary class. 

There are so many audiences on which students can make an impact—from family members and classmates, to younger students and the school community, to the larger community (local, national, global). There are also so many different formats that impact can take—from events like cooperative field trips and service learning, to class projects and authentic assessments, to classroom protocols for peer teaching and learning.  

What about you? When have you experienced passionate purpose by making a positive impact for Jesus? How do you give your students that same opportunity?