In the Service of What?

In the Service of What? The Politics of Service Learning by: Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

Talking Points #6

Hyperlinks: 

  http://www.servicelearning.org/what-service-learning 

Service Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that involves community service with instructions and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. That is the definition of Service Learning from the link above.  According to the article, service learning makes students active participants in service projects that aim to respond to the needs of the community while furthering the academic goals of students.  The link above showed many examples of service learning projects that were done.  The first one was Elementary Students in Florida studied the consequences of natural disasters. Then they designed a kit for families to use to collect important papers in case of an evacuation.  Another example from the link above was how middle school students in Pennsylvania learned about the health consequences of unhealthy eating, and lack of exercise.  They brought their knowledge together by creating health fairs, creating healthy cookbooks, and opening a fruit and vegetable stand.  Much like our article a portion of it had to do with two service learning cases.  The first one had to do with a twelth grade class who studied issues surrounding democracy and citizenship.  The teacher allowed the students to participate in community service projects of their choosing.  The second case was a little different.  The middle school class identified issues of common concern, and then they voted to focus their attention on just one issue, and that issue they came up with was homelessness.  The service learning examples from my link is an example of change service learning in my opinion. I think that because they created health fairs and tried to impact the community.  The first example of service learning from our article was more charity because they were just doing a good deed.  An example of a change service learning project from our article was when some of the upper-middle class students went and performed music at an elementary school.  They impacted their community, and also their perspectives on the elementary school children had changed it wasn't as bad as they thought. 

I remember in high school we had to do a service learning project in order to graduate.  We had to do 15 hours of some sort of service and then write an essay about it.  I did recycling for my high school.  I feel like I got nothing out of it, and I didn't really help anyone.  My school needs to come up with something better so we could have really helped the community.  The service learning we are doing for our class is so much better.  We are actually helping students in a certain subject area, for me its math, that really need help in school.  I feel like I am making an impact on the students I work with, and I feel accomplished and happy that I can help. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTAfHBwW2mk

This is a link to youtube video about service learning.  It shows a lot of service learning examples like above.  It also shows how students have to learn something, then teach it to other people in their community.  They have to struggle to learn something, and change the students roles for once.  It gets them involved with other people in their community.  They are engaged, and they are problem solving.  They are not only helping others, they are learning while they do this.  While we do are service learning for our class, we are making an impact on these students, but we are also learning how to become good teachers.  This video also shows that Service learning really does work! The students also love doing this service learning projects.  A quote from the article we read shows 90% of 14-17 year olds who had been asked to volunteer said yes.  That shows that kids really do want to volunteer and help the community, and they enjoy doing it.  A student from the article did a service learning project of serving senior citizens Thanksgiving dinner.  She said that it felt great helping, and she appreciated the chance to help. 

http://www.servicelearning.org/lsa/honor-roll/index.php

I wanted to put this link in here because it shows how President Obama has pledged to make service a central cause of his administration.  This fits in with our article when President Bush voiced his support for the National Community Services Act of 1990.  I think that what this shows is that no matter if your a democrat or a republican they support service learning.  This is a good thing because it should be accepted by every president that comes into office.  I think that Service Learning should be required for all grade levels: Elementary School, Middle School, High School, and College.  I plan on continuing to do my service learning after this class, and go above and beyond the minimum hours required for RIC.

Comments:  The service learning project that I did for my high school was terrible.  I really wanted to do something that impacted the community.  I did recycling.  That did nothing for me I remember walking around the school collecting the recycle bins, and goofing off.  It shows that my school did not take this project seriously.  I hope that they work on things to improve that, and do real service learning projects like helping students with math in Providence.  I think students would enjoy it, and by the things I've said in this post students do enjoy it.  I'm glad service learning is becoming more widespread, and students really enjoy doing this!