Teachable moments are all around us. Dawn Dupriest and I are teaching an electronics course. Our students are learning:circuits, Ohm’s Law, voltage, how to make the world a better place and how to write a thank you note. We had a guest speaker from Nicaragua who taught us about life without electricity. Our students are learning that their work is vital and changing lives of others. They are also learning about the powerful connection between school and community and the force of human compassion. They were shocked to learn the average Nicaraguan rate per hour is $.80. They were grateful to Senora Force and were appreciative of her time. She also is delivering student produced lanterns to her community.
The next class period Dawn and I wrote the students a thank you letter. Then we defined thank you note etiquette. Then, the students wrote heartfelt thank you letters. School allows opportunities for students to learn life skills constantly. In a class of 50 students many had never hand written a thank you note. Their thank yous were heart warming and inspiring. Their thank you notes are one example of how combining the human factor with hard engineering concepts equals engaged, global students!
