Transcript Fostering Lifelong Volunteering -

Fostering Lifelong Volunteering -Start 'em Young
Kevin Days, Program Coordinator,
Learn & Serve America
Corporation for National and Community Service
Debra Hart, M.S.,
Director, Education & Transition
Institute for Community Inclusion
University of Massachusetts Boston
Debbie Gilmer, M.Ed
Maine Support Network,
Western Maine Partnership
Service Learning Options
Why Bother?
• Provides students with the opportunity to
apply what they are learning in the classroom
to the real world ensuring acquisition of the
skill(s)
• Can align with curriculum frameworks & state
standards
Why?
• More engaging helping to decrease dropout
• Shows students relevance of curriculum
to their life
Special Educators &
IDEA 2004
• Need to conduct outreach to special educators
• Need to include Service Learning goals &
objectives in a students IEP
• Need to work with special educators on how
service learning can help enrich a students
portfolio with evidence of skill acquisition to
demonstrate competency /mastery of skill if in a
‘high stakes’ testing state
Community Service
• Sometimes considered a “punishment”
& only for students who have
misbehaved…
Universal Design:
Strategies for Including
Students
What have you learned recently?
Name one thing that you learned
last month (a new recipe, a yoga
pose, how to change a flat tire,
how to use PowerPoint, etc.)
 What helped to learn it?
 What made learning it more
complicated?
Today’s Students
• Who are your students now?
• What are their goals?
• What are their primary learning styles?
• How is the diversity of students addressed?
What is Universal Design?
• Consider the needs of the broadest
possible range of users from the
beginning
• Proactive
Quick Inquiry
Write, think of, or draw your responses quietly
 Who is number one user of captioning?
 Who uses curb cuts?
 Who uses international symbols?
What is Universal Design?
Universal Design (UD) is the design of
culturally responsive service learning
opportunities including curriculum,
instruction, assessment and the
environment, to be usable by all students, to
the greatest extent possible, without the need
for accommodations.
Universal Design
• Emphasizes meeting individual needs of a broad range of
students
• Provides alternative ways students can engage in the
learning process
• Removes barriers to information access
• Provides flexibility without watering down the activity and
curriculum
• Varied presentation of content to
accommodate all learning styles
• Provide multiple means for students to
engage with the content/activity
• Provides multiple options that allow
student to demonstrate competency /
knowledge of material
Overall….
• Levels the playing field
• Benefits all students
Favorites
(often low cost)
• natural supports (e.g., assistance from
classmates)
• reduce distractions whenever possible (e.g.,
provide space enclosures or a private area,
allow students to leave & return to activity)
• provide notes and/or video clips for each
activity (e.g., post on class website)
More….
• provide clear map of the area
• institute use of unscented, non-toxic
products & a no scent policy
• ensure that the environment is clutter
free & that it is wheelchair accessible
Universally Designed
Service Learning
Example
Blackstone Valley Watershed
• Reviewed major elements of the project
• Task analyzed key tasks & made available in
text, pictures, video / podcast
• Braille, large print
• Low tech solutions on-hand
What are your next steps?
Inclusive Practice: An
opportunity to count
• All students learning, growing and playing together in
their local neighborhood schools
• All students have access to (and support) to achieve
in a rigorous curriculum (in Maine, the Maine
Learning Results, our state standards)
• All students are prepared to succeed in college and
the work place upon graduation
• Personal learning plans guide each student’s
individual learning
• Student led conferences showcase their work and
actively engage parents in school
Inclusive Practice and Service
Learning: An Opportunity to Make a
Difference
• Most of these examples come from a leadership
course at one of our GEAR UP districts (middle and
high school) that has a strong service learning
component (and a long history of exemplary inclusive
practice)....
• A student with multiple disabilities uses a switch to
read stories to children in a Montessori school
• A non verbal student uses her AAC device to
socialize with elders in a nursing home
More examples
• The Leadership class has produced a
“State Legislative Forum” for local
candidates. The current class’ “CEO” is
a student with physical and learning
disabilities.
• Clean up and trash collection (and
analysis is then shared with the DEP)
More examples
• Another student works in a soup kitchen
rolling and passing silverware to guests
• A student began running a "gift cart" three
afternoons a week at a nursing home---she
and her support staff shops for items for the
cart, visit residents, and makes sales. While
this started as part of a school class, it
became an ongoing volunteer opportunity
after graduation and she is still the “cart lady.”
Baxter School for the Deaf
• http://www.maine.gov/education/lsa/stori
es.htm
For more information:
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Deb Hart: [email protected]
Debbie Gilmer: [email protected]
www.gearupme.org
http://www.maine.gov/education/lsa/stori
es.htm