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Service Learning
Introduction by Kate McPherson
Service Learning is a method of teaching through which students apply their academic skills and knowledge to address real-life needs in their own communities.
Service Learning provides a compelling reason to learn, teaches the skills of civic participation and develops an ethic of service and civic responsibility. Service learning increases motivation and retention of academic skills as specific learning goals are tied to community needs. By solving real problems and addressing real needs, students learn to apply classroom learning to a real world context. At the same time, students provide valuable services to schools and communities.
Community Service vs. Service Learning: Service learning projects emphasize both the service and the learning. By applying classroom content to community settings, service-learning is a way to provide more authenticity and purpose for classroom learning. By contrast, community service emphasizes the habits and skills of volunteerism.
Teachers, schools and districts throughout the country have implemented service learning.
Districts are thoughtfully connecting service learning to their overall school improvement efforts. The Education Commission of the States has a web site which documents efforts underway in districts in five states: www.learningindeed.org .
Several middle and high schools in each state have been designated as Leader Schools. Information about these schools can be found at www.leaderschools.org. Steve Holman heads up the Leader School project and can be reached at Educational Services, Inc. in Washington, DC [202/628-8080]
Criteria of Quality Service Learning The National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) has developed a matrix, which helps teachers examine the quality of their service-learning activities based on criteria established by experienced service learning educators across the country. The matrix is composed of three clusters:
- Learning
- Service
- Critical Components that Support Learning and Service
Each cluster consists of essential elements as listed below.
Cluster I: Learning
- Service-learning activities establish clear educational goals that require the application of concepts, content and skills from the academic disciplines, and the construction of one's own knowledge.
- Students engage in tasks that challenge them cognitively and developmentally.
- Assessment is used to enhance student learning and to document and evaluate how well students have met content and skills standards.
Cluster II: Service
- Student engage in service tasks that have clear goals, meet genuine needs in the school or community and have significant consequences for themselves and others.
- Service-learning activities employ formative evaluation of the service effort and its outcomes.
Cluster III: Critical Components that Support Learning and Service
- Service-learning activities maximize student participation in selecting, designing, implementing, and evaluating the service project.
- Service-learning activities value diversity in participants, practice, and outcomes.
- Service-learning activities promote communication and interaction with the community and encourage partnerships and collaboration.
- Students prepare for all aspects of their service work, including a clear understanding of the task, the skills and information required to complete the task, awareness of safety precautions, and knowledge about and sensitivity to colleagues.
- Student reflection takes place before, during, and after service; uses multiple methods to encourage critical thinking; and is central in the design and fulfillment of curricular objectives.
- Multiple methods are designed to acknowledge, celebrate, and validate student service work.
Kate McPherson is Director of Project Service Leadership, 12703 NW 20th Avenue Vancouver,WA 98685 360-576-5070; FAX 360-576-5068 mcphers@pacifier.com. Go here to read an article by Kate McPherson.
Service-Learning: Bringing Together Students, Parents, and Community to Create a Better World Robert Schoenfeld
Robert Schoenfeld illustrates how to create a Service-Learning program that not only enriches students' lives by engaging them in meaningful service to address real-life needs in the community, but also provides valuable knowledge related to classroom studies. This article presents the key components of a successful Service-Learning program and explains how the entire family can be instrumental in the success of a project.Service Learning in Special Education
Lori Armstrong Lynass
Special education teacher finds service learning a valuable tool for helping her students to become engaged in successful learning.Engaging and Empowering Students: A Framework for Teaching about Global Issues and Solutions Gilda K. Wheeler and Kim Rakow Bernier
A global issues curriculum and professional development organization has developed a framework for teaching about global issues and solutions to educate and empower students to make a difference.A Call to Action: A Global Youth Empowerment Society (YES) by Gary Goldman and Allen Schmieder
Giving students the power to transform their schools and their world can be a motivating force which can transcend the achievement gap.Giraffe Club Marilyn Handeland
A thirty-seven year teaching veteran shares the success of the innovative community service program used in her second grade classroom.Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (1999) Service-Learning Professional Inquiry Kit. Alexandria,VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Billig, S.H. (editor) Building Support for Service-Learning. Denver, CO: RMC Research Corporation.
Brandeis University (1999). National Evaluation of Learn and Serve America: Summary Report. Waltham,MA: Center for Human Resources. The Heller School, Brandeis University.
Close-Up Foundation. (1997) Active Citizenship Today. Alexandria, VA.
Compact for Learning and Citizenship (CLC) and the Education Commission of the States (ECS) (2001) The Service-Learning and Standards Toolkit. Denver ,CO: ECS.
Eyler, J and Giles, D. (1999) . Where's the Learning in Service-Learning? San Francisco,CA: Jossey-Bass Publishing Company.
Eyler,J, Giles D., and Schmeide A., (1996). A Practitioner's Guide to Reflection in Service-Learning: Student Voices and Reflections, Nashville,TN:Vanderbilt University.
Giraffe Heroes Project (2004) Voices of Hope: Heroes' Stories for Challenging Times Readings from the Giraffe Heroes Project . Langley, WA.
Kahne,J and Westheimer, J. (May 1996) . "In Service of What? The Politics of Service-Learning." Phi Delta Kappan, Volume 77, Number 9, pp. 593-599.
Jane Kendall. Editor, (1991) Combining Service and Learning: An Annotated Bibliography: Raleigh, N.C.: National Society for Experiential Education.
Kinsley,C.W.and McPherson,K., Editors, (1995) Enriching the Curriculum through Service-Learning. Alexandria,VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Loeb, Paul Rogat. (1999) Soul of a Citizen. New York: St. Martin's.
McPherson, K. (1996) Service-Learning: Getting to the Heart of School Renewal. Vancouver,WA: School Improvement Project.
National Service-Learning Cooperative (1999) Essential Elements of Service-Learning. Roseville, MN: National Youth Leadership Council.
Toole, J. (2000) "Implementing Service-Learning in K-8 Schools: Challenging the Learning Grammar and the Organizational Grammar of 'Real School.'" Paper presented at the annual meeting of American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, April 2000.
Wade, R.C. (editor) (1997) Community Service-Learning: A Guide to Including Service in the Public School Curriculum. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse http://www.servicelearning.org/ Filled with research and program examples.
Learning In Deed http://www.learningindeed.org A web site for the Education of the Commission of States featuring national service-learning programs and policies.
National Service-Learning Exchange http://www.nslexchange.org. Access a network of peer consultants to help teachers implement service learning in their classrooms, community organizations or college campuses.
© October 2005 New Horizons for Learning
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