News Release
Monday, March 16, 2009
NEA Foundation Supports New K-12 Service-Learning Curriculum
Pennies for Peace Toolkit Inspired by Three Cups of Tea School-Building Movement
WASHINGTON, DC (March 16, 2009) -- Through Greg Mortenson’s best-selling Three Cups of Tea and the author’s Pennies for Peace organization, thousands of educators are inspiring young people nationwide to raise money to build schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The NEA Foundation announced today that educators hoping to join this movement can download a free K-12 service-learning toolkit designed to help them create effective penny-raising campaigns as part of their schools’ curriculum.
The Pennies for Peace Toolkit was collaboratively produced by Pennies for Peace and the Pearson Foundation with support from the NEA Foundation and can be found at www.penniesforpeace.org.
It provides a standards-aligned, service learning curriculum for all grade levels, including classroom activities, fact sheets, maps provided by National Geographic, and videos about life and culture in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The toolkit supplies campaign tools that teachers and students can use to engage their local communities, including letter templates to civic leaders, press release templates, stickers, and flyers.
“The NEA Foundation funded the creation of the content for the toolkit because we saw it as an important opportunity to expand student service learning as a viable way of addressing 21st century issues,” said Harriet Sanford, President & CEO of the NEA Foundation.
Three Cups of Tea tells the story of Mortenson’s 1993 attempt to climb the second highest mountain in the world, K2, in honor of his younger sister, who had recently died. When a member of the group got sick, they turned around, and he got lost in the mountains of Pakistan. He wandered into a poor village, where the chief and his people cared for him. Inspired by their kindness, Mortenson promised to return and build a school.
Since then, Mortenson founded an organization that has used student contributions to establish nearly 100 schools in rural and often volatile areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, providing education to more than 28,000 children, including 18,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before.
“Education coupled with compassion can move mountains,” said Mortenson. “We want our students to understand the issues facing the world, to know that they have the capacity to affect change, and we want them to guide their leaders to share one penny per dollar globally, because the greatest legacy we can give our students is a legacy of peace.”
“The Pennies for Peace Toolkit recognizes that teachers and young people have a passion for taking action on the issues that matter to them most,” said Mark Nieker, president of the Pearson Foundation. “Greg Mortenson’s story in Three Cups of Tea has touched millions and the Pearson Foundation is happy to help build the movement behind his work in schools and communities everywhere.”
The toolkit is an extension of the new Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to Change the World… One Child at a Time, a young readers edition of this remarkable story published by Puffin, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group.
About The NEA Foundation
The NEA Foundation is a public charity supported by contributions from educators' dues, corporate sponsors, and others who support public education initiatives.We partner with education unions, districts, and communities to create powerful, sustainable improvements in teaching and learning. Visit www.neafoundation.org for more information. Find us on Facebook and Twitter, and visit our blog.