This is a 7th grade Language Arts project and is comprised of different components of our Balanced Literacy program and engages several cross subject disciplines. Embedded within the curriculum design is the desire to reach out to the grater community, both within our town and beyond, and making a commitment to do something good that will make a change in our world. It is a year-long project broken into marking periods activities with a culminating project and evening presentation offered at the end of the year where students may share their projects and results.

All five Language Arts Literacy NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards are used in this project: reading, writing, viewing, listening, and speaking. In addition, the project also involves Technological Literacy, Social Studies and Consumer, Family and Life Skills standards.

This project was designed to meet multiple needs of the developing middle school aged student. In addition to the important academic challenges, the physical, social, and emotional growth are most pronounced during the middle school years, and “Pay It Forward” addresses these vital areas.

The theme of the movie and the novel, upon which the project is based, is that by doing good and unselfish acts of kindness or a service for someone, you can ask the receiver to pay the kindness forward instead of paying it back. What a powerful idea! This concept is simple and illustrates how one person can really make a difference. The giver “pays it forward” in the hope that the recipient will also pay it forward (not pay it back) … and so on.

Students are also asked to collaborate with one another in creating presentations.