We asked the educators and students from Douglas MacArthur Elementary School in Waltham, MA to share their feedback about their ThinkGive experience. Here is what they had to say.
Educator: Heather Stone-Gaudet
Grade: 5
Started partnering with ThinkGive: 2021
Was ThinkGive a good use of your teaching time? Even though finding time for the lessons was challenging, the combination of activities, videos, and messages were beneficial for my students.
How did ThinkGive have an impact on your students? I think the program forces students to get out of their comfort zones and to develop empathy for others.
Can you share a story, anecdote, or something that made you smile? My students needed to push themselves to give to a stranger, but they all found simple ways to connect to people they didn’t know. It was a moment of growth.
What’s a highlight from your experience with ThinkGive? If you want to teach your students to develop empathy and compassion for others, then this is the program for you. Their scope and sequence helps scaffold the students’ abilities to connect with their own feelings and the feelings of others. The multimedia format makes this program interactive and engaging. When students see the accumulation of gifts that they give, they can see how they are positively impacting themselves and the world around them.
We surveyed the students who participated in ThinkGive, and the results were outstanding. After participating in ThinkGive:
90% agreed they will try to be kinder to others.
71% agreed they are better at seeing things from other points of view.
90% agreed ThinkGive helped them connect with their community; 86% with friends; 81% with teachers.
And the students had some wonderful things to say about the program:
“It helped me learn that being kind can be as small as a little smile to opening a door for somebody.”
“I learned how helping others physically and mentally can bring you happiness.”
“I learned that you should always be kind because you never know what someone is going through.”
