Food Drive

I know I am not the best teacher. I am certain that if asked my students could give a never ending detailed list of things I am not so good at. Luckily for all of us I am good at some things. One thing I know I do well is motivate. It was my saving grace as an at risk teacher. When in doubt I would share an inspiring story and then encourage my students to do their best.

One of my biggest adjustments is not having class time(I taught a study/social skills class) to be motivating. But I found just what I was looking for a few weeks ago; the food drive. This was something I knew that students would get into.

We received an email from the principal to encourage students in our classes. I knew that wouldn't be enough so I started the food drive challenge in my classes. Each class would compete against the others, six in all, to see who would bring in the most items. Within the school the students were competing in grade levels and would put the items in box for each grade near the office.

We have talked a lot about the economy during the election process so the kids had a decent idea as to how bad things are for families right now. I told them that each item represented a meal to someone who had nothing, so no matter whether they could spare one, five, or ten it would be significant to someone who had a bare cupboard. And knowing kids I added don't take everything out of your own pantry or else we will have to do the food drive for you--and that will defeat the purpose. Bring what you CAN.

The food drive lasted for three weeks and most of the students brought in an item or more. I am always impressed at how kind we can be when we are focused on helping others. It is part of the American spirit. I had students that went out on their own and knock the doors on their street and bring in 70+ items, others went to the store and spent their own money and buy items. Each morning was exciting as kids buzzed around the room bringing in items and counting them and adding them to their class number.

At the start of the this week we had around 700 items from all my classes. Two of my classes were in a real battle for first. The other classes lost some steam as they realized they were behind by a seemingly insurmountable number. So I gave the best speech I could on Monday, I talked again of the economy, I talked about how some students had approached me and told me they couldn't bring anything because there was nothing to bring in, I told them one of my favorite sayings, that I would take a B/C student any day that was a good person over an A student that was a jerk.
I made a challenge for the week to see which class could bring in the most for this the last week. Each class was even again, although we kept the totals, we would have a winner for the week and an overall winner.

The food drive ended today. This week alone they brought in well over 1,000 items. They ran their own food drives in their neighborhoods to help out the community. In the end my 170 students averaged 10 items per person with the total over 2000 items. The most any one student brought in was 156. The 9th grade box was overflowing with items today. Each class brought in over 100 items during the three weeks, the high class brought in over 500. Ironically the class that won was in second to last place before this week with 84 items, they brought in 428 this week alone, winning the week as well as the overall champs. I am certain my classes brought in roughly as much as the rest of the school combined.

When I spoke with the principal she wanted to buy all the classes doughnuts for their efforts. I hedged and told her they didn't need a reward for what they had done. She argued and said that since there was no expectation of a prize that this was a fine way of showing appreciation for their service. So we are getting doughnuts on Monday.

One final thing. I had a student who didn't bring in anything from the winning class approach me in the lunchroom. We will call him Mark. Mark pulled out his wallet and said he felt bad that he didn't bring anything in. He said he felt hypocritical being in the class that had brought in the most when he had not brought in any himself. He pulled out a ten and gave it to me. I told Mark he didn't have to do this, he could donate to another cause, another time. He looked me in the eyes, and said, "Take the money, I can't live with myself knowing I didn't help out." I took the cash and shook Mark's hand. For a moment we shook hands and stared at one another. A knowing look crossed both our faces. A simple act, yet so profound.

So yeah I am far from perfect, I have bad days, bad moments. I make mistakes and am many times my own worst disruption. I know most of the day to day stuff will be forgotten. But the feeling we all had when we added up the numbers, the satisfaction that beamed when we realized what we had done and how many people would be effected by it, the look in Mark's eyes as we shook hands. Those make it all worthwhile. And that's why I am excited each morning to go to school. It may sound funny or even corny but in reality it is true. I truly enjoy what I do and that makes all the difference.