HEROES AND LITERACY

We've heard from many quarters that one of the things kids need most now is hope. We looked at our Giraffe Heroes Project files, bulging with stories of "Giraffe Heroes"— people from an array of ages, locations and backgrounds who are plunging into every imaginable problem and getting positive results. Their lives are models for positive action and enormous sources of hope.

We've put forty of these stories into Voices of Hope, a unique middle/high school program that builds reading skills while it encourages kids to be active citizens in their communities. We know from many years' experience in classrooms how well the inspiring and exciting stories of Giraffe Heroes grab kids' attention—even kids who don't like to read. Used as a supplementary reader, Voices of Hope is a welcome addition to standard reading texts, many of which are notoriously dull.

But Voices of Hope is much more than an anthology of stories and instruction in vocabulary, sentence structure and comprehension. Voices of Hope tells kids that individuals can impact their world for the better, and that they themselves can do that too. Then it shows them how, with easy-to-use service learning lesson plans and skills-building materials in the Voices of Hope Service Learning Guide.

The Voices Hope Service Learning Guide is a helpful tool for people from middle school kids to adults.( It is now being translated into Spanish.) It contains a concise, easy-to-follow, seven-step process for designing and completing a successful service project: Choose the Problem—Research the Problem—Decide on a Project—Create a Vision—Make a Plan—Take Action—Reflect, Celebrate and Begin Again, The Guide is now being translated into Spanish.

Giraffe Heroes' stories inspire many kids to move from "Why bother?" to "How can I make a difference?" The Service Learning Guide provides a step-by-step process for moving from thinking about the public problems, to successfully completing service projects that address those concerns. As they take on projects, kids not only learn and practice 3-R skills, they also learn the skills of civic engagement—to plan, work in teams, fundraise, resolve conflicts, speak in public, make good decisions and take responsibility.

Guiding kids into courageous, caring service can change their attitudes—and their lives. It's easy for teachers, youth leaders and parents to use, containing easy-to-use lesson plans and skills-building materials.

You can buy it here.

Voices of Hope is a unique two-part curriculum that includes an anthology of heroes' stories that inspire kids, and a service-learning guide that shows kids how to be heroic themselves by getting engaged in solving civic problems, creating and carrying out projects that benefit their communities. And it's all set up to be used as part of standard curricula. Since every school has to teach reading, and Voices of Hope seamlessly joins literacy and service-learning—we think we're onto something here.

“Voices of Hope is the best literacy resource I’ve come across in the last five years. The stories stay with you—they are touchstones of courage and caring. …The extraordinary Service-Learning Guide is a gem in itself, as a guide to coaching service-learning projects. …[It’s] the best such handbook I’ve ever seen. —Ronald Gross, Chair, Columbia University Seminar on Innovation.

You can buy it here.

THE GIRAFFE HEROES KIT gives you all you need to guide 8-to-14-year-olds through well-tested steps for ~

• learning about real heroes,
• finding real heroes in their own world and
• becoming heroes themselves as they create and carry out a community service project.

The contents and activities in this Kit are a distillation of the nationally recognized K-12 Giraffe Heroes Program created for classrooms, after-school programs, families who homeschool, and parents. It's everything we know about bringing out young people’s innate compassion, and fostering the courage they need to put that compassion to work in the world around them.

Whether you’re working with an afterschool group, in a summer camp, a classroom, or if you’re home-schooling, you can use the Kit to guide kids through hearing stories of real heroes, telling the stories of real heroes theyfind, and then being heroic themselves as they create and carry out a service project that addresses a problem they care about. I think you may be amazed and delighted by what happens to them as they go through these steps.

We’ve included plenty of hands-on activities in this Kit to help young people become inspired to serve with courage and compassion. In this Kit you'll find:

Stick Your Neck Out — A Street-Smart Guide to Creating Change in Your Community and Beyond, and its Teaching Guide, are a superb civic engagement training tool for upper level high school kids.

You can buy it here.

"If you are not happy with the way things are in your life, in your organization, in your family, in your country or in the world, maybe you can be a catalyst for making things better. Here are practical suggestions on how you can use your talents and ideas to help create the changes you desire."

—Millard Fuller, Founder, Habitat for Humanity International

Filled with practical tips and inspiring examples of real people, this book provides the missing link between ideals and action.

Topics covered include choosing an issue, mapping out a plan, creating a vision of success, organizing a team, building trust, resolving conflicts, working with the media, moving through bureaucracies, setting legal strategies and more.

The book is anchored in three key ideas:

1. Courageous and compassionate people can solve any problems and meet any challenges in their communities and in the world.

You can buy them here.