Transcript The Case for Service Learning

The Case for Service Learning
Facts about student engagement in school in the U.S.
(Steinberg, 1996)
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Over one third of students do not take school seriously
and get through the day by fooling around with classmates
Half said their classes were boring
Two-thirds say they cheated on a school test
90% copied homework from someone else
80% say it is not important to get good grades in school
20% say they don’t try hard in school because they are
worried about what their friends might think
20% say disengagement is a result of confusion or
difficulty of subject matter, particularly in math and science
Engagement Research
Ames (1992), Strong, et al. (1995) and Anderman &
Midgley, (1998) show that teachers who are most
successful in engaging students develop activities
that address intellectual and psychological needs,
including work that:
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Develops their sense of competency
 Encourages self-expression and originality
 Allows them to develop connections with others
 Gives them some degree of autonomy
Engagement Research, cntd.
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Other researchers recommend:
 Ensure course materials relate to students’ lives
and highlight ways learning can be applied in
real-life contexts
 Allow students to have some degree of control
over their learning
 Assign challenging achievable tasks
 Stimulate student curiosity about the topic
 Design projects that allow students to share new
knowledge with others
 Develop caring and trust between teachers and
students
Service Learning is a Promising Practice for
Engaging Students!
What is it?
 A way of teaching & learning
that connects
meaningful service to the community
with classroom instruction
 Why is it useful?
 It supports the best practice
recommendations of the experts for
engaging students in their learning.
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To engage students, Service
Learning must be done well!
Research shows repeatedly that without
high quality, there is limited benefit to
students.
Service-Learning Components
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INVESTIGATING a community issue through research
and community needs assessment
PLANNING the ways students will address the issue
ACTION--performing the service activity
REFLECTION--thinking about the impact on others and
self, what worked and what did not, and the relationship of
oneself to the world
DEMONSTRATION--showing the impact of the project on
self and others (especially to an authority figure)
CELEBRATION of the impact
Support Our Troops Example in
Chassell
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INVESTIGATE
 Guest
speaker: the National Guard
 Internet research: What do troops need?
What is already supplied?
 Create a baseline: a needs statement that
measures the current situation
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PREPARE
 What
will the service be?
 Who are my partners?
 How will the kids contribute?
 What skills will the kids need--academic
and civic?
 Do we need any “sensitivity” training?
 What content info is relevant?
 What are my learning goals?
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ACTION
 Writing
poetry & letters
 Working in a writing group for the writing
process
 Gathering & organizing donations
 Promoting our project in the school &
community
 Packing the boxes
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REFLECTION: done throughout!
 Investigation:
What did we learn from Mr.
Collins? How could we help him?
 Preparation: What is a free verse poem?
What is a metaphor? What are the features
of a personal letter? What do we need to
be sensitive about? Is my writing effective
and vivid?
 Action: How could we organize our
donations? How can we promote our
project in the school & community?
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DEMONSTRATION / CELEBRATION
 Viewing
photos together
 Enjoying our voice thread with snacks
 Designing a display case
 Sharing about our project through a bulletin
board near the gym
How does service learning
connect to the common core
standards?
Examining the connection to English
Language Arts &
Literacy in History/Social Studies,
Science, and Technical Subjects
What is embedded in the
common core literacy standards
that makes service learning a
good vehicle for reaching them?
The heart of the
standards:
Make sure students
are college and
career ready by the
end of high school
Common Core Literacy Goals in
general…
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Create readers, writers, speakers, and
listeners across content areas
 Develop literacy as an integrated skill for all
fields, including social studies & STEM
 Provide students opportunities to conduct
research and to produce and consume media
in all content areas
 Address college and career readiness skills
through general, cross-disciplinary literacy
expectations
Fact:
The New ELA Core Standards recognize
that teachers in other content areas must
have a role in helping students develop
literacy skills.
The reality: students are not ready to
encounter the complex informational text
required in college or the workplace.
The new common core standards have a
special emphasis on informational text and
inter-disciplinary literacy.
…mastering literacy
skills for common core
standards
Is Service Learning
the vehicle…
..to take us to
our destination? …being ready for
the real world
Features of the Service Learning
Car…
Students are in the driver’s seat of their
learning
 Promotes career readiness and job skill
identification through real world contexts
 Provides an opportunity for curriculum
integration across content areas
 Fosters teamwork, leadership, mutual
achievement, and social development
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References
Billig, Shelly. RMC Research
Corporation, 2008.
 Michigan Department of Education,
Common Core State Standards
Initiative, http://www.corestandards.org
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