I'm New to One Life...Many Gifts

"I'm New to One Life...Many Gifts"

Welcome and thank you! Thank you for taking the time to learn more about One Life...Many Gifts, an exciting curriculum program which heightens awareness, knowledge and empathic understanding of organ and tissue donation and transplantation by introducing senior secondary school students to donor family members and transplant recipients who have been personally impacted by the gift of life.

As an educator we hope you will find this curriculum to be inspiring, motivating and best of all – easy to implement in your particular educational environment. One Life...Many Gifts relies on powerful human stories to convey the message that lives are saved, grief is cushioned and hope is restored through donation and transplantation. Students are drawn into the lives of the children, women and men profiled in both the printed curriculum and the accompanying DVD. And the youthful graphic design is ideal for the student-audience and supports the learning styles of differing literacy levels.

It is our hope that this website will not only provide you with the ability to download the curriculum, DVD and assessment materials that form a part of One Life...Many Gifts but also help you determine how best to use this curriculum in your classroom.

How is the One Life...Many Gifts curriculum organized?
One Life...Many Gifts can be used by senior secondary school teachers in a variety of subject areas. It has been purposefully designed to be cross-curricular so that any teacher who is passionate about donation and transplantation can create an educational program for his or her students.
There are ten curriculum booklets:
The above booklets help introduce the topic; highlight the personal stories of donor families, transplant recipients and patients waiting for life-saving organs and provide scientific information on transplantable organs and tissue.

Each booklet also has an "Over to You" section which provides a range of student activities involving reading, writing, speaking and listening, independent and small group work, analytic and creative activities rooted in higher order thinking and problem-solving. The range of constructivist activities provided address the learning needs of students at various levels of proficiency and are highly invitational, encouraging students to connect their own experience to the text and visuals provided through the curriculum.
All of the student activities are visually-coded to show their connections to specific courses so you can see which activities will best suit your classroom.
How do I get started?
There is no expectation that any one teacher or group of students will use all of the resources provided in One Life...Many Gifts. Rather, teachers will choose from the modular components of the curriculum those stories or case studies which are most pertinent to their students' learning needs.

This program is not intended to be prescriptive – we want educators to have the freedom to present this curriculum how and where they see fit.
However, to be sure your students get the most out of this experience we recommend that all students:
- Watch the Video;
and explore:
- At least one section of the Introductory booklet
- One donor family story from the Donor Family booklet
- One religious or ethical issue from the Religious and Ethical Perspectives on Organ and Tissue Donation
- One of the other booklets
We have taken the liberty to create a seven-day lesson plan for a variety of subjects so please feel free to use one of the sample unit plans.

Speakers: If you are interested in having guest speaker come to your school, please contact: Trillium Gift of Life Network at 1-800-263-2833 or email . Speakers who may be available include: your local hospital's Organ and Tissue Donation Coordinator, transplant recipients and members of donor families.

You are welcome to reproduce and share any of the materials on this website for educational, non-commercial, purposes.
How can I connect One Life...Many Gifts to my particular subject-area?
We have taken great care to ensure that One Life...Many Gifts connects to Ontario Ministry of Education course guidelines. The following documents link specific "Over To You" student activities in One Life...Many Gifts with Ontario Ministry of Education's overall expectations for eight subject areas.
How can I evaluate my students' work?
There are a variety of assessment tools that have been designed specifically for this curriculum.
- List of available Rubrics
- Detailed Rubrics
- Portfolio Assessment
- "Reflection on My Learning" (metacognitive tool)
- Journal Reflection
- Attitudinal Pre Surveys for Students
- Attitudinal Post Surveys for Students
- There is also a "Student Questionnaire" in the Introductory booklet (pg. 12 - 17) which your students can fill out prior to and after your instruction of the curriculum which can help measure their understanding.
Where can I learn more about organ & tissue donation & transplantation?
You can learn more about the basics of organ and tissue donation and transplantation in the Introductory booklet. You can also look through the following Fact Sheets for more information.
The following websites can serve as additional resources:
- The Ontario Branch of the Kidney Foundation of Canada also has information on organ donation on its website.
- The Multi-Organ Transplant Program at London Health Sciences Centre - provides information on donation and transplantation.
- The Trillium Gift of Life Network – has information on a range of topics related to organ and tissue donation.
Classroom Speakers:
If you are a secondary school teacher in the Province of Ontario and would like someone to speak to your students about donation and transplantation please contact the Director of Communications, Trillium Gift of Life Network at 1-800-263-2833 or email:

Please take a few moments to browse through the resources provided on this site and if you require more information on this program, please contact the Director of Communications, Trillium Gift of Life Network at 1-800-263-2833 or email: