Service-Learning : Bringing Together Students, Parents, and Community

Service-Learning:

Bringing Together Students, Parents, and Community

to Create a Better World

by Robert Schoenfeld

Millions of students across the nation are engaging in Service-Learning in the classroom and in after-school programs to enhance their growth in academic performance, personal character, and civic engagement. This article will introduce you to the principles of Service-Learning and help you to initiate a Service-Learning program for your students, and the community with the support of the students' families.

Service-Learning is a method of teaching and learning that enriches the student's life by engaging him/her in meaningful hands-on service to address real-life needs in the community while also gaining valuable knowledge and skills that connect with classroom studies. Today there are over 4 million students, K through 12, who are improving their lives and the lives of people in their communities through Service-Learning (Youth Helping America Study, Learn and Serve, 2005).

Service-Learning is a proven educational technique that facilitates a student's growth in academics, social maturity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and leadership skills (Michigan Learn and Serve Study, Meyer, Hofschire, and Billing, 2004).

Students who are involved in meaningful Service-Learning do better on tests, show a sense of self-esteem and purpose, connect with the community, and want to be more civically engaged. They also are less likely to be involved in negative behavior and more likely to graduate from high school and college (Michigan Learn and Serve Study, Meyer, Hofschire, Billing, 2004).

Service-Learning – Key Components

Connecting Service with Learning: High-level Service-Learning is achieved when the student is actively engaged in meaningful service that has a significant positive impact on the community while also fulfilling a stated academic goal (e.g., social studies, environmental studies, science, English, reading, mathematics, and foreign language).

Reflection: Reflection fosters the development of critical thinking in your students. Reflection and critical thinking (problem-solving) are essential tools that will help your students be successful in school, career, community, and family life. Service-Learning reflection includes the following activities by the student:

Assessing personal interests, knowledge, skills, and attributes that will be useful in performing the Service-Learning project.

Standing back and making a fresh and comprehensive assessment of specific needs in the community.

Thinking about how to take effective steps to meet the identified needs.

Self-evaluating one's progress toward meeting the goals of the project.

Reflecting, at the conclusion of the project, on personal changes and changes to others in the community (e.g., knowledge gained, skills acquired, personal growth, and connection to the community).

Civic Engagement: Service-Learning places the student in situations that will expand the student's civic awareness, compassion for others, and desire to be civically engaged.

Working as a Team: The students learn to work for a common goal and by doing so acquire a variety of skills, such as how to lead, how to be accountable, how to communicate ideas, how to get along, how to listen to others, and how to set a goal and work as a team to reach the goal.

Experiential Learning: Service-Learning uses direct experience and hands-on learning to help the student learn to take the initiative, assume responsibility, and develop effective problem-solving skills.

Journaling: Journaling is a fundamental element in Service-Learning; it enhances the reflection process, improves thinking and writing skills, and provides the student with a permanent document that describes his/her accomplishments.

Celebration: Making the culmination of the project meaningful and inspiring for the student:

The students make a presentation that highlights their accomplishments and demonstrates that they have fulfilled the class objectives. This presentation can be an oral presentation, a PowerPoint slide show, multimedia, or a written paper.

The students should be congratulated for the work they have done to improve their community. This could include giving a party for the students and/or having the local mayor or another community dignitary present each student with a personalized award.

Getting Started

A successful Service-Learning Program requires knowledge, planning, and buy-in from the students, staff, families, and community organization (e.g., YMCA, local EPA office, food bank).

Family Involvement: Gain the families' support by sending correspondence home that presents an overview and explains the benefits of Service-Learning for the student and the community. Ask the parents to get involved by engaging their child in conversation about needs in the community (e.g., homelessness, hunger, illiteracy, environmental destruction, disease, crime, domestic violence, teenage antisocial behavior) and by discussing and researching with their child avenues for meeting those needs. After the project begins, the parents can, with input from the child, set a specific time when the student shares with the entire family that week's events and progress of the Service-Learning project (e.g., every Friday night at the dinner table). Many parents may want to participate in planning, implementation, field trips, and celebration of the Service-Learning project.

Motivating Students: The best way to get the student excited about the Service-Learning project is to involve them with researching and choosing the project. One way to do that is the following:

Divide the class into two or three groups (6–10 students per group).

Have each group choose a president (to lead the group), a vice president (to support the president), a scribe (to keep a record of the group's discussions), and a reporter (to speak to the class about the project his/her group has chosen). The remaining students should be called researchers. It is important to get every student involved.

Have each group research the needs in the community and pick a Service-Learning project that addresses one of those needs.

Have each group's reporter give the class a 5-minute description about the Service-Learning project they chose.

Have the students select one of the Service-Learning projects to perform as a class. Older students may undertake individual or small-group projects.

Examples of Service-Learning

Following are some ideas to help stimulate your thinking and planning for Service-Learning projects:

Elementary and Middle School:

Peer-to-peer mentoring and tutoring; once a week have older students meet one-on-one with younger students to help them with reading, writing, mathematics, and other subjects.

Have your students interview senior citizens about the history of their community and about their lives. Have the students then create a nicely designed book, video, or a recording of the oral history that they can give to the senior citizens, who in turn can share it with their children and grandchildren and pass it on to their families.

Test the community's drinking water using a local university laboratory or a health laboratory and research ways to improve the water quality. Keep an annual record of the tests and compare the results of past years with those of the current year to evaluate changes in the water quality. Have the students report their findings to the local media, EPA, and water board.

Compile a list of names and birthdates of children who are enduring extended stays in the local hospital. Design personalized "get well cards" for them, have a gift drive, and put on birthday parties for them. If possible, have your students choose and invite a sports star, a celebrity, or a clown to attend the party.

High School:

Have the students research the environmental and economic benefits of converting the entire school bus fleet to buses that run on clean bio-diesel fuel. Then have them present their findings and a plan of implementation to the superintendent and the school board. If the plan is approved, have the students participate in implementation of the plan.

Have your students create a Service-Learning website for the school district where any class may post photographs and descriptions of their Service-Learning projects. Have the students compose and edit a monthly Service-Learning E-newsletter that highlights the best Service-Learning projects. The E-newsletter can be sent to students and parents throughout the school district.

Have senior students pair up with freshman students (or team up college students with seniors) for the school year to encourage academic development and to reduce the number of students who drop out of high school. At the start of the project have the seniors participate in a brief Mentor/Life-Coach training session. At the end of the training, match the senior student with a freshman student of the same gender. Have the pairs meet for about 1 hour once a week, during which time the senior can share his/her knowledge and wisdom to help the freshman gain the tools he/she needs to be academically and socially successful.

Conclusion

Every teacher knows that students learn better when the knowledge presented is stimulating, relevant, meaningful, and experiential. Service-Learning offers educators a teaching tool that encompasses all of this and more. Service-Learning gives you the vehicle to use your teaching expertise and enthusiasm, engage families in their child's learning, and stimulate your student's creativity, joy of learning, and desire to accomplish something meaningful Make it fun and have a great Service-Learning experience.

References

Grimm, R, Dietz, N, Spring, K, Arey, K, Foster-Bey, J. (2005 September) Youth helping youth. Corporation for National and Community Service, Learn and Serve.

Meyer, Hofschire, and Billings. (2004) The impact of service-learning on student achievement, A statewide study of Michigan Learn and Serve grantees. RMC Research.

Astin, A. W., Sax, L. J., & Avalos, J. (1999). The long-term effects of volunteerism during the undergraduate years. The Review of Higher Education, 21 (2): 187-202.

About the author

Robert Schoenfeld,(Robert@ServiceLearn.com) author, artist, and an activist for community and youth volunteer service programs, lives in Seattle, Washington. He is author of three Service-Learning resources that guide and inspire students to take Service-Learning to a higher level and that assist the teacher in leading and documenting a successful Service-Learning program: Service-Learning – Student's Guide & Journal for Elementary School, Service-Learning – Student's Guide & Journal for Middle & High School, Service-Learning – Student's Guide & Journal – Higher Education Edition.

You can learn more about the books at: http://www.ServiceLearn.com

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