"Make the World A Better Place" - Jane Goodall

I spent about 25 minutes today listening to an interview with Jane Goodall, from last week's World Economic Forum. 

She's inspirational. I life well lived, and still going strong.

Take some time and view this yourself.  Share it with your students.

In the final 30 seconds she talks about a program called Roots & Shoot,  that seeks to inspire youth involvement, which she started many years ago. 

Roots & Shoots - visit site

I've written about annotation, and my connections to a #clmooc educator network.  The work of Jane Goodall, and Roots & Shoots, is the type of idea that should be spread through many networks.  The 23 minute interview is full of wisdom, which I'd mark up with a yellow highlighter if I were doing an annotation.

When I talk about mentor-rich k-12 tutor/mentor programs, I'm visualizing a safe place in a neighborhood where kids can connect with volunteers who open doors to a wide range of learning opportunities.  That's what the graphic below is intended to communicate.

See this graphic in this article

As a leader of a tutor/mentor program for more than 35 years I often had volunteers come to me and say "I have an idea for a  program. Can I start it?"  I almost always said "yes".  That's where our writing, arts, video, Spanish club, tech club, and college readiness coaching came from. 

I point to web sites of tutor/mentor programs in Chicago, and around the country, with the goal that these provide ideas that inspire work that could be done in many places. Many do a good job of sharing such information. Many others need help doing this.

Be like Jane.

Jane Goodal travels the globe raising awareness, and raising money, to support the work she does. I spend time every week, sharing ideas on this blog, and building a web library, for the same purpose.

She ended her video interview saying "when we start living for money, it all goes wrong"  but, "when we live for money to  help make the world a better place" that's when things get better.

The  Roots & Shoot program could be part of many schools, and non-school programs, along with many other forms of learning, if others will provide the talent and dollars to make it happen.

Can you look back on your life and see the same journey of helping others, and helping the planet, as Jane Goodall can?