ServiceLearning Helping students make real world connections to what they learn in the classroom whi

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Service-LearningHelping students make real
world connections to what they learn in the
classroom while providing service to the
community.

• Service-Learning Workshop
• RUSD

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Presenters

• Jennifer Hicks Service-Learning Grant Manager
• Rocklin Unified School District
• 916.632.0140 xtn. 204
• jhicks_at_rocklin.k12.ca.us

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Objectives

• What exactly is service-learning
• Difference between community service and
  service-learning
• Benefits of service-learning
• Seven elements of service-learning
• Steps for implementation

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Point to Ponder

• Harvard University students remember just 20 of
  the content of class lectures a week later.
• Harvard University Report Our Underachieving
  Colleges 2007

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The Learning Pyramid
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What is service-learning?

• Service-learning is an instructional strategy
  whereby students learn and develop through active
  participation in thoughtfully organized service
  to the community.
• Service-learning is a youth development model
  that embraces young people as community resources.

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Difference Between Community Service and Service
Learning
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Research shows

• When service-learning is effectively implemented,
  students gain in measures of academic
  achievement, school engagement, character, and
  citizenship. (Growing to Greatness, 2004, NYLC)

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Ten Benefits of Service-Learning

• 1. Improved academic achievement
• 2. Increased student engagement
• 3. Improved social behavior
• 4. Improved character
• 5. Stronger ties to schools, communities, and
  society
• 6. Exposure to new careers
• 7. Improved thinking skills
• 8. Positive school environments
• 9. Stronger community groups
• 10. Increased community support for schools

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The 3 Rs for Academic Achievement

• Service learning can make a tremendous impact as
  a curriculum tool to help students engage in
• rigorous and relevant activities that promote
  high levels of academic achievement, and help
• students build relationships with members of the
  community. (Grunwald, 2006)
• Rigor
• Connected to content standards
• Higher order thinking and metacognition
• Integrated Learning
• Relevance
• Meaningful lessons
• Real-world learning
• Meeting community need
• Relationships
• Community Partnerships
• Business Partnerships
• School Partnerships
• Teacher-Student Relationships
• Learning Communities

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Impacts of Service Learning
Mediating Factors
Self-esteem Empowerment Prosocial
behaviors Motivation Engagement
Service- Learning
Academic Outcomes
(Furco, 2006)
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Seven Elements of High Quality Service
LearningAdapted from Youth Service California

• 1. Integrated Learning
• The service-learning project has clearly
  articulated knowledge, skill or value goals that
  arise from broader academic and/or developmental
  learning goals of the program.
• The service informs the learning content, and the
  learning content informs the service.
• Life skills learned in the community setting are
  integrated back into program based learning.

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Seven Elements of High Quality Service
LearningAdapted from Youth Service California

• 2. Youth Voice
• Students participate actively in
• choosing and planning the service project
• planning and implementing the reflection
  sessions, evaluation, and celebration
• taking on roles and tasks that are appropriate to
  their age.

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Youth Voice

• Critical comments by students should be taken in
  a friendly spirit. Accumulation of material
  should not stifle the students independence.
  Albert Einstein

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Seven Elements of High Quality Service
LearningAdapted from Youth Service California

• 3. High Quality Service
• The service responds to the actual community need
  that is recognized by the community.
• The service is age-appropriate and
  well-organized.
• The service is designed to achieve significant
  benefits for students and community.

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High Quality Service Example

• Project Description 'Voices of the Valley' is a
  nationally recognized oral history project in
  which Anderson Valley High School students
  preserve their town's stories in annual volumes
  of books and audio compact discs.
• In 1997, a group of eight seventh graders had a
  schedule glitch that gave them a free period.
  Mitch Mendosa, their teacher, challenged them to
  use the time to create a meaningful project that
  contributed significantly to the school and
  community. After much debate, they decided to
  create an Anderson Valley oral history.
• The students felt strongly about preserving the
  voices of the people they talked to, so they had
  to learn how to use digital audio technology as
  well as book production techniques. Two years
  later, 'Voices of the Valley Volume I', a book
  and audio compact was completed.

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Seven Elements of High Quality Service
LearningAdapted from Youth Service California

• 4. Collaboration
• The service-learning project is a collaboration
  among as many of these partners as is feasible
  students, parents, community-based organization
  staff, after school program staff, school and
  program administrators, teachers and recipients
  of the service.
• All partners benefit from the project and
  contribute to its planning

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Collaboration

• The Community Impacts of Service-Learning
  Lawrence N. Bailis, Ph.D., center for Youth and
  Communities, Brandies University and Tony Ganger
  YMCA
• .A survey of 150 local agencies at 17 sites
  revealed that more than 1,000 students in K
  through 12th grade were involved in more than 300
  projects each semester providing approximately
  154,000 hours of service. Ninety-six percent of
  the host agencies were pleased with the service
  performed by the students.
• 90 percent said that the service-learning had
  helped them to improve their services to clients
  in the community (Melchior et al. 1999)

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Seven Elements of High Quality Service
LearningAdapted from Youth Service California

• 5. Civic Responsibility
• The service-learning project promotes students
  responsibility to care for others and to
  contribute to the community.
• By participating in the service-learning project,
  students understand how they can impact their
  community

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Civic Responsibility Kinds of Citizens

• Personally Responsible Contributes food to a
  food drive.
• Participatory Citizen Helps to organize a food
  drive.
• Justice Oriented Citizen Explores why people
  are hungry and acts to solve root causes.

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Seven Elements of High Quality Service
LearningAdapted from Youth Service California

• 6. Reflection
• Reflection establishes connections between
  students service experiences and the
  academic/developmental learning curriculum.
• Reflection occurs before, during, and after the
  service-learning project.

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Seven Elements of High Quality Service
LearningAdapted from Youth Service California

• 7. Evaluation
• All the partners, especially students, are
  involved in evaluating the service-learning
  project.
• The evaluation seeks to measure progress toward
  the learning and service goals of the project.

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The 8th Element

• Celebration!!!!!!

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Celebration

• How will you celebrate your students
  achievements?
• Governor and First Lady's Service Award
• The Governor and First Lady's Service Award
  honors children ages 5-14 who complete 25 hours
  of community service in a 12-month period.
  Children receiving the honor receive a
  personalized certificate from the Governor and
  First Lady. In addition, children are encouraged
  to keep serving to earn a President's Volunteer
  Service Award (a minimum of 50 hours).
• For more information go to http//www.californi
  avolunteers.org/recognition.asp
• President's Volunteer Service Award
•   To encourage and recognize outstanding
  volunteer service and inspire others to
  volunteer, the Presidents Council on Service and
  Civic Participation created the Presidents
  Volunteer Service Award. These Awards honor those
  Americans who have made serving a central part of
  their lives and show that when you help your
  neighbor, you are helping your nation. Awards
  are given to youth ages 14 and under who have
  completed 50 or more hours of volunteer service
  to individuals 15 and older who have completed
  100 or more hours and to families or groups who
  have completed 200 or more hours. Lifetime
  achievement is recognized with a special
  President's Call to Service Award, which honors
  those who have provided more than 4,000 hours of
  service over the course of their lifetime.For
  more information go to www.presidentialservicea
  wards.gov.

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Implementing Service-Learning

• Step One Preparing Students
• Step Two Conducting a Community Needs
  Assessment
• Step Three Selection of the Need
• Step Four Identifying Project and Learning
  Objectives
• Step Five Creating and Action Plan
• Step Six Assessment/Evaluation
• Step Seven Reflection
• Step Eight Wrapping Up