What if every class began with the provocation, “What if our class could help even just one person?”  

What if the response to this possibility began a year-long learning adventure that helped people?  

What if the curriculum was contextualized to serve the help a community needs, as a toolbox, and students saw their labour, their learning, as contributing to a better community? One, maybe, in their own vision. Maybe, one, from their dreams.  

In all the discussion about engagement there is a glaring piece missing from the conversation: students, like all of us, seek purpose in their lives and their learning. Beginning with challenges that students want to participate in solving – beginning with meaning - serves a dual purpose: first, students see themselves as agents in transforming the society in which they live; second, in the act of transforming society, one can’t help but be changed, and transformed, themselves.  

Grade 5 & 6 students at Pleasant Corners Public School in Vankleek Hill, Ontario, learned with these big ideas in mind for the entirety of the 22/23 school year. In the process they raised thousands of dollars, improving their community, near and far, with energy and drive, and as the learning in their classroom.  

On June 15th, the students launched 10 entrepreneurial concepts at their year-end BBQ. The school became a carnival of creativity and original ideas, full of the community seeing the students, remarking on their superpowers. The students in turn saw themselves as agents in their community, and the world beyond school. The students raised over $4000 in less than two-hours. Who did they help? How did they help? That’s what this episode of The Real-World Learning Podcast is about.