Helping Focus
The helping focus category was added to the judging criteria to encourage
students to focus on a helpful objective through student learning, researching
intercultural relations, and/or demonstrating ways of giving back.
Several teams displayed an outstanding helping focus in their websites. Some examples are listed below:
GVC08-01, winner of the Gold Award in the primary school category lead by Rick Glass, Harrison Elementary, USA (IN); Matt Kuntz, Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, USA (IL); and Marsha Goren, Ein Ganim School, Israel; came up with several ways to allow their students to give back in their website titled “The School of Kindness”. First, students from Harrison Elementary and Lincoln Elementary organized a food drive to collect jars of peanut butter and jelly for a local food pantry.
The Abraham Lincoln Elementary 5th graders raised over $3,000 for charity during their Hungry Minds Pasta Dinner where they served as waiters, dishwashers, bus boys, art sellers, reservation desk managers, announcers, bread and cheese servers, movie screeners and maitre d’s. Over 500 people attended the dinner to support the students’ desire to give something back.
Inspired by this opportunity to help others, sixth graders at Ein Ganim School decided to start their own “Tech Club” to help teach tech skills to the fourth grade students. The students all received a great deal of satisfaction in being able to give back to their school and share their knowledge.
Harrison Elementary 4th grade students began a similar student-learning activity by working with kindergartners in a “Reading Buddies” program. As one student summed up their work: “Reading Buddies is a BIG part of our website! Our website is all about kindness and that is exactly what we do to the kindergarten buddies, we are kind to them. When I walk in their classroom my reading buddy has the biggest smile on their face!!! We have two reading buddies, one in the afternoon and one in the morning!!!”
Another demonstration of kindness and giving back was when one of the teachers, Rick Glass, went in for surgery and was in the hospital longer than expected. All of the students from GVC08-01 sent cards with well wishes and showed their appreciation for his contributions.
When asked for feedback on the new “Helping Focus” criterion, Matt Kuntz from Abraham Lincoln Elementary says “I think it is awesome- what a better way to reach out to others than through GVC and the contest. It made us think differently about what we wanted to do and how we could help others through our project.”
GVC08-07 built their website around wildlife from their differing regions
of the world. They created a section on endangered animals and what can
be done to conserve and protect our environments. The team’s teachers,
Kate Chall and Michael McGee, Reservoir Middle School, USA (VA); Olga Marfitsina
and Katherine Koroleva, Gymnasia № 57, Russia; and Troy Mackey, Rose Yake,
and Joanne Gianopulos, Epiphany Cathedral School, USA (FL); had their students
give back by making bird-feeding stations and hanging them throughout their
schoolyards.
GVC08-09, taught by Darlene Letourneau, Martel Elementary School, USA (ME); Jim Hayward, Horace Mann Elementary, USA (IL); and George Anger, Doverwood Public School, Canada; helped their students explore the affects of Global Warming. The students created substantive and comprehensive content to educate visitors on their site. The students wanted to give something back to visitors to the site by creating word and trivia games for them to learn from and enjoy.
GVC08-10 created a fun and colorful site that taught students to appreciate diversity and uniqueness. In a section for global games, they included a link to a website with a trivia game that donates rice to the hungry for each correct answer, www.freerice.com. This team was taught by Maggie Cerminaro, Topa Topa Elementary, USA (CA); Mary Wiser, Lahore American School, Pakistan; and Astrid Ruiz St. Therese School, USA (MO).
GVC08-14, winner of the Gold Award in the secondary school category and taught
by Janet Barnstable, Oak Park Elementary, USA (IL); Tim Alguire and Stephen
MacKinnon, Athens District High School, Canada; and Vasanthi Lajapathi, C
S Ramachary Memorial Matriculation Higher Secondary School, India; built
a website about water; water cycle, desalination, aquatic life, pollution,
global warming, and more. The students did exceptional research on their
topic and provided visitors with excellent information and resources. Quizzes
and crosswords were made to help visitors review what they have learned on
the site. They even created “water inspired art” and enlisted artist Martin
Waugh to critique the students” work. Also, as a gift to their visitors,
they designed artistic backgrounds to use on websites or desktops.
