The Tale of Three HeroesA PBL Story

Once Upon a Time…

There were a group of young students who were bound together in a most dangerous task, the task of picking an organization most deserving of their heroics.

The trio, after much debate, decided to give children back what they needed most: their childhood.

So they set out, each with their own tools. One with her intelligence, one with her creativity and one with her motivation. They all shared a common weakness, however: communication.

They contacted the local hospital, and planned for a visit in the near future. The three girls also decided that a toy drive would be a great way to lift the spirits of a group of children all fighting their own battles.

A great and terrible wind blew in, sweeping snow across the young heroes‟ path. They pushed ahead, insisting no snow storm would defeat their efforts to do a good deed. In the end, however, the storm won and the trio had to scurry home without paying a visit to the pediatric unit.

It was the week before Christmas and all through the class were talks of cancelled dinners and toys that would last.

The trio, quite busy, started their toy drive, in hopes their idea would spark and survive

Christmas came and went and the hospital reminded the girls that only new toys could be accepted, not the used ones. So they set off sending emails, and making phone calls.

They tried and they tried, but no group could find the space for their collection of lovable teddy bears so it was time for a new idea.

One Saturday morning, a most motivated student dedicated to her cause, thought of an idea. Why not make a basket of goodies and sell tickets on it?

The others agreed and set to work on figuring out what to put in the basket and soon they were charming citizens into supporting their cause.

The basket was a success, they all agreed and soon it was time to prepare an extravagant dinner for all who attend. A special guest was rumored to appear which made all three heroes quite nervous indeed.

But as luck would have it, their longtime rival, the storm, came back to make one last appearance. It stormed and it stormed, making the guests shiver and worry.

The dinner, it seemed, would not be as planned but the heroes stayed hopeful and worked and worked. In the end, they had fun and learned quite a lot, so the heroes were happy and felt they did well. The trio was inspired to do such good deeds and felt they completed their task with talent and ease.

The three returned home after their tremendous defeat and hope that Sir Coffin The Great will look upon their good deeds with honest delight.

And of course, the three heroes lived happily ever after.

THE END.

The Heroes in Action!

After their adventures, the legends were asked to do an interview with a local news station.

This is a documentation of their interview:

What has this project taught you about active citizenship?

“Active citizenship takes a lot of work and communication, but it‟s definitely worth it. It helps you appreciate organizations that do these kinds of things for a living without expecting anything in return for their deeds. That‟s what we learned as a group through this project.”

“Active citizenship is a really good thing. There‟s nothing better than helping out someone who really needs it, and that‟s what we attempted to do. I definitely have a lot more respect for the organisations that do this kind of thing all the time.”

-Vanessa

In what ways has the project increased your skills in

communicating?

“Communicating just by using the wiki wasn‟t enough once we actually got started. We had to figure out what worked well for the group. We ended up needing to meet in person in order to be able to fully plan things. We updated the wiki as we went along and completed plans, but most of our discussion was away from the wiki.”

“I also learned how to write emails that would indicate our cause and what we were looking for from the person we were contacting.”

-Kelsey

“I learned that you can‟t always communicate via email; sometimes you actually have to pick up the phone.”

-Sarah

How has the project affected your personal development?

“Before we started any fund-raising, I did a bit of research not only on children with terminal illness rates, but also on child poverty and it made me really invested in our cause. After doing the basket raffle and completing the dinner, I didn‟t feel like it was a project that I had to complete and I think that was a really defining moment for me. Looking back on this project, I realize that I had fun doing everything and although we kind of rushed it towards the end and didn‟t get to accomplish everything we set out to do in the amount of time we had left, I think what I took most from this project was a new outlook on volunteering. I think before, I saw it as something I would only do if I was getting something in return. Now I see that you don‟t necessarily have to get something out of it to feel like you did a good deed.”

-Kelsey

“Doing this project made me realise just how much work it takes to help those in need. Even though it takes planning, time, and money, it‟s worth it in the end because you feel really good about yourself for making someone‟s future better. That‟s how I developed personally – I learned that even if you can‟t help yourself there‟s always a way to help others, which will make you feel better in the end.”

What are some problem-solving skills you enhanced during this project?

“Our group agrees that we all had the problem-solving skills that we needed, we just had to apply them. We all used our own strengths to solve the problems our group had. And a lot of times, we avoided conflict and problems by being very open to every idea suggests. We took the best parts of everyone‟s ideas and used them all together, instead of eliminating an idea completely.”

“I think our group was very good with problem-solving skills, because once we realised what the problem was, we tackled it head-on. I think it was easier to do since we were all friends anyway; we didn‟t really have reason to argue or anything.

-Vanessa

How has participating more intimately with your school and

community increased your awareness of the world around you?

“Participating in something like this made us realize that in order for some kind of change to happen, we needed to take a step forward and do something about it. We had to put ourselves out there and hope that someone would answer us so we could move on to the next step.”

“It‟s increased my awareness because I now know what type of things will work to get people interested. People don‟t want to give toys; they want to win something in return. Once I realised that, we set to work on a gift basket, which actually raised a lot of money.

-Vanessa

What was the most difficult part of the PBL experience for the group?

“Communication was the most difficult part of the project for our group. There was lack of communication between group members a lot during the beginning, and many times organizations that were contacted didn‟t email back. Doing the toy drive while other groups were doing other drives didn‟t work out so well, because other groups had their drives going for longer and donations were worth more points. The weather played an important factor in our group as well, because it made us postpone the dinner we had planned, and it prevented us from visiting the hospital at a sooner date.”

At the beginning of the unit, we agreed that the project‟s focus would be „helping people in

need‟. Do you feel, as a group, that you accomplished your goal? Explain why you think so and also how it made you feel as a

group.

“We did accomplish our goal, despite the obstacles. We raised plenty of money for the pediatric unit. Along with helping people in need, we helped ourselves when we realized how much work it is to pull off something like this. Our group feels really good about what we did and we are glad that we chose to help children.”

“I feel really great that we did something to help out little kids. Honestly, I don‟t think we hear enough about kids in the media. Everything is all about how adults have screwed up again, and we neglect the kids that need help. I think that by choosing to help kids as our project, we can help them get some fun in their lives again; we could put a smile on their faces.”

-Vanessa