ServiceLearning

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Service-Learning
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Service-Learning is . . .

• a form of experiential learning, where students
  apply content knowledge and critical thinking
  skills to address genuine community needs.
• Service-Learning engages all students in hands-on
  academic projects in the community to meet
  learning objectives and strengthen communities.

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Service-Learning Impacts

• STUDENTS
• Personal Growth
• Social Growth
• Academic Growth
• Citizenship Growth
• Workforce Preparation

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Service-Learning Impacts

• SCHOOLS
• Decreased absenteeism
• Decreased disciplinary referrals
• Improved student achievement
• Strengthened community support
• Increased collaborative decision-making

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Service-Learning Impacts

• COMMUNITY PARTNERS
• Increased volunteer hours
• Increased community support
• Improved public relations
• Supported organizational goals
• Increased resources

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Service-Learning Impacts

• COMMUNITIES
• Addresses real community issues/problems
• Mobilizes youth as a resource
• Develops engaged, productive citizens
• Develops next generation leaders
• Develops an ethic of service and commitment to
  the community
• Provides training for the future workforce

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The Service-Learning Cycle
Now What?
So What?
What?
(Adapted from James Pamela Toole, Compass
Institute and National Youth Leadership Council,
1991 Revised 1993, 1999.)
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Service-Learning Cycle
R E F L E C T I O N
WHAT?

• Develop Student Community Ownership
• Identify a Community Issue or Concern
• Decide on a Project
• Plan Prepare
• Perform Meaningful Service
• Make Observations
• Analyze, Problem-solve
• Evaluate for New Understanding
• Develop a New Application

SO WHAT?
NOW WHAT?
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Guiding Student Involvement

• Use effective group techniques,
• Agree on ground rules for dialogue.
• Recognize that projects must address real
  community problems/issues AND meet curriculum
  requirements.
• Use a decision-making mechanism appropriate for
  the task.
• Use age-appropriate tasks and processes.

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Thoughtful Service

• Addresses a real community problem or issue
• Is challenging and engaging
• Is about the dignity and growth of the giver and
  the receiver
• Is best discovered by EXPERIENCING, not by being
  told.
• Is direct, indirect, research or advocacy

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Assessing the Community

• Brainstorming
• Visual Scans
• Photo Narratives
• Newspaper Reviews
• Surveys
• Neighborhood Mapping
• Community Agencies

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Preparing for Service

• Identifying a problem/issue
• Writing questions for agencies
• Finding a service site
• Developing ideas for projects
• Addressing legal issues
• Receiving appropriate training

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The Learning Pyramid
National Training Laboratories - Bethel, ME
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Standards for Authentic Learning

• Construction of Knowledge
• Disciplined Inquiry
• Value Beyond the School
• Newman and Wehlage, 1995

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Four Premises about Learning

• Individuals create knowledge by reflecting on
  their past physical and mental actions and on
  their current knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
• Knowledge is an evolving conversation with ones
  environment, oneself, and others.
• For learning to occur, learners must see the
  relevance of the knowledge and the skill in their
  lives.
• Instruction does not cause learning.
• Robert Garmston, The Adaptive School

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Questions to Generate Ideas for Infusing Service
into the Curriculum

• Could students teach what they have learned
  (skills or knowledge) to others?
• Preparing immigrants for citizenship tests
• Tutoring other students and adults
• Conducting art/music/dance lessons for younger
  students
• Helping other students resolve conflict
• Creating lessons and presenting them to younger
  students

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Questions to Generate Ideas for Infusing Service
into the Curriculum

• Could the results of the students learning be
  contributed or presented to someone?
• Writing childrens stories
• Writing oral history of senior or community
• Developing video or song on issues
• Building needed equipment
• Giving performances on violence and drug
  prevention

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Questions to Generate Ideas for Infusing Service
into the Curriculum

• Could the classroom learning be applied to
  provide a service or to help solve a real concern
  in the school or community?
• Writing a guide on available community services
  and translating it into Spanish and other
  languages of new residents
• Conducting longitudinal studies of local bodies
  of water water testing for local residents
• Gathering information and creating brochures or
  videos for non-profit or government agencies
• Mapping state lands and monitoring flora and
  fauna
• Volunteering at local clinics to conduct health
  screenings
• Restoring historic structures or building
  low-income housing
• Removing exotic plants and restoring ecosystems,
  preparing preserve areas for public use

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Questions to Generate Ideas for Infusing Service
into the Curriculum

• Could the classroom learning be used to advocate
  for an organization in the community?
• Planning and putting on public forums on topics
  of interest in the community
• Conducting public information campaigns on topics
  of interest or local needs
• Working with elected officials to draft
  legislation to improve communities
• Training the community in fire safety or disaster
  preparation

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STARTING WITHTHE CURRICULUM

• When am I ever going to use this?
• Or
• How can the knowledge skills learned be applied
  to meet needs in the real world?

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STARTING WITHTHE SERVICE

• Whats the problem/issue?
• What service addresses the problem/issue?
• What knowledge and skills can be learned in
  addressing the problem/issue?

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Reflection. . .

• the intentional consideration of experience in
  light of particular learning objectives
• Hatcher Bringle, 1997

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Outcomes of Reflection

• Academic Learning
• Personal Development
• Program Improvement

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Reflection matters

• The quality that matters most in service-learning
  is the amount and type of reflection.
• Knowledge and deep understanding come through a
  process of constructing knowledge through
  assessment of experience.
• Knowledge acquired through repeated involvement
  in complex situations increases the likelihood
  that this knowledge will be used.

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Facilitating Reflection

• Suspend judgment
• Seek alternatives
• Keep an open mind
• Seek frameworks and underlying rationale for
  behaviors
• Seek various views perspectives
• Learn to function in ambiguity, uncertainty,
  complexity, variety

• Consider consequences
• Understand linear vs. relational thinking
• Think analytically
• Move from concrete experience to abstract
• Foster the courage to have different ideas
• Emphasize inquiry as a tool of learning

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Reflection Map a tool for organizing types of
reflection activities
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Facilitating Reflection

• Suspend judgment
• Seek alternatives
• Keep an open mind
• Seek frameworks and underlying rationale for
  behaviors
• Seek various views perspectives
• Learn to function in ambiguity, uncertainty,
  complexity, variety

• Consider consequences
• Understand linear vs. relational thinking
• Think analytically
• Move from concrete experience to abstract
• Foster the courage to have different ideas
• Emphasize inquiry as a tool of learning

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Reflection Activities

• WRITE
• Personal Journals Group Journals Stories
  Poems Essays Letters to the Editor
  Information brochure Thank You Notes
• READ
• Newspaper stories Articles about service
  Books related to the projectDifferent types of
  prose (drama/poetry) Journals of others

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(No Transcript)
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Activities Continued.

• TELL
• Class discussion Think/pair/share Debate
  Role Play(s) Oral Presentations to outside
  groups Skits Cheers Mock Trial
• DO
• Collage Mural Photo Essay Video
  Service Fair Display Sculpture Compile a
  scrapbook Create a walking tour

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Authentic Assessment

• Choose knowledge and skills to be
• assessed
• Determine purpose of assessment
• Formative or Summative
• Determine who will assess
• Supervisor, teacher, peer, self
• Select a method of assessment
• Observations, Products, Portfolios, Interviews
• Develop criteria for assessment
• Rubric, Checklist, etc

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Recognition

• Is a reflective practice
• Creates a positive, motivating learning
  environment
• Provides closure
• Is on-going
• Should include a variety of techniques

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Recognition Techniques

• Perfunctory, Formal - focuses on a specific award
• Informal - praise given for a job well done as
  part of the daily routine
• From outside guests or political figures at a
  concluding event
• Celebration of service by doing service
• Systematic - Includes all techniques across the
  program

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Ideas for Recognition

• Letters
• Phone calls
• Presentations
• Press releases broadcast coverage
• Award ceremonies
• Public performances
• Bulletin Boards of memos, photos, progress toward
  goals

• Decorate student lockers
• Surprise occasions
• Recognition luncheons, dinners, picnics
• Group day off events
• Certificates
• Scholarships
• State-wide service fairs
• Visual performing arts

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Rules of Recognition

• Match the recognition or celebration to the
  person.
• Match the recognition to the achievement.
• Be timely and specific

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Evaluation

• Project Evaluation
• Reflective analysis by all participants
• Challenges/Successes
• Changes/Improvements
• Tip Sheets
• Program Evaluation
• Compare Outcomes to Goals
• Negotiate new strategies/goals

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Collaboration

• A relationship
• A process
• A commitment

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Collaboration is . . .

• a mutually beneficial and well-defined
  relationship entered into by two or more
  organizations to achieve results they are more
  likely to achieve together than alone.
• Michael Winer and Karen Ray, 1994

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Collaboration is . . .

• the process by which several agencies,
  organizations, or individuals make a formal
  sustained commitment to work together to
  accomplish a shared mission.

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Collaboration is . . .

• a commitment to participate in shared
  decision-making and allocation of resources
  related to activities responding to mutually
  identified goals.

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Possible Partners

• Students
• Teachers and School/district staff
• Nonprofit organizations
• Government Agencies
• Businesses
• Parents and other community members

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Guidelines for Collaboration

• Common vision purpose
• Inclusion
• Shared Resources
• Shared Leadership decision-making
• Mutually determined goals objectives

• Clear roles tasks
• Ongoing, effective communication
• Tangible outcomes
• Documentation Evaluation
• Recognition

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Keys to Collaborative Success

• Begin by listening
• Create an ongoing process
• Share leadership and responsibility broadly
• Provide choices
• Dont ignore the obstacles
• Avoid jargon
• Communicate productively

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Norms for Collaboration

• Pausing
• Paraphrasing
• Probing
• Putting ideas on the table
• Paying attention to self and others
• Presuming positive presuppositions
• Pursuing a balance between advocacy and inquiry

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SUSTAINABILITY Requires

• A vision shared by all stakeholders
• Leadership
• Training technical assistance for all
  participants
• Health Wellness

• Documentation
• Public Relations/Marketing
• Funding Resource Development
• Evaluation
• Recognition

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Ways of Sustaining

• Cross-age or Peer Mentoring/Tutoring
• Sponsorship by Local Business
• Partnering with local service organizations or
  other streams of service
• Grant Writing for Funding
• Building into campus/district plan
• Ongoing staff development
• Links to federal or state programs

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National Service Partners

• AmeriCorps
• AmeriCorpsVISTA
• AmeriCorpsNCCC
• Senior Corps
• Learn Serve America

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What Can Schools Do?

• Develop administrative support
• Provide ongoing staff development to support
  service-learning methodology
• Develop collaborative partnerships
• Support student initiative in learning
• Provide opportunities for teachers to plan and
  learn together.

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What can C.B.O.s do?

• Create standards-based curriculum
• Develop service-learning opportunities/ideas
• Consider students/youth as resources
• Collaborate on proposal/grant writing
• Be an ongoing partner to schools
• Provide training
• Create supportive internal external policies
  for service-learning

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Resources

• Department of Public Instruction Service-Learning
  Website http//www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dltcl/bbf
  csp/slhmpage.html
• Corporation for National and Community Service
  http//www.nationalservice.org
• National Youth Leadership Council
  http//www.nylc.org
• National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
  http//www.servicelearning.org/
• National Service-Learning Partnership
  http//www.service-learningpartnership.org/
• Points of Light Foundation http//www.pointsofligh
  t.org/
• Education Commisson of the States
  http//www.ecs.org/
• Presidential Freedom Scholarships
  http//www.nationalservice.org/scholarships/index.
  html

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DPI Service-Learning Listserv

• DPI-SL is designed to facilitate interactive,
  electronic communication among Wisconsin teachers
  and others interested in service-learning.
• If you wish to subscribe to the DPI listserv
• 1. To subscribe to DPI-Sl, send an email message
  to
• imailsrv_at_dpi.listserv.wi.gov
• 2. In the body of the message (leave the
  subject line blank) enter subscribe DPI-Sl
  Your Full Name (e.g. subscribe dpi-sl Jane
  Doe)2. Leave the subject line blank.
• 3. Do not enter your name or any other
  information in the message.
• Once you are subscribed, to send a message to the
  list, simply address it to
• DPI-Sl_at_dpi.listserv.wi.gov Be sure to include
  your name and e-mail address in the body of your
  message. Your message will then be sent to
  everyone subscribed to the DPI-SL list.

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