Community Service Reflection

Civics is a Grade 10 course where students learn about our political system, how public decisions are made, and the entitled rights and responsibility for a citizen who legally belongs to a country. In a course like civics, students critically investigate local, national, and worldwide issues with a political perspective. One aspect of the curriculum is personal action on civic issues, by which means students are to analyze a civic issue and develop an action plan to address it. Through this, our class worked with an organization named DILA (A Day of Information for a Lifetime of Action), an organization that aims towards engaging youth in Ottawa by encouraging hands-on engagement in their communities, addressing civic issues that individuals are passionate towards, and to increase the importance of the democratic decision-making process. A DILA project main objective is to simply empower the young millennials, by giving them a chance to let their ideas, imagination, and voice shine.

From the reading “From an Ethic of Altruism to Possibilities of Transformation in Teacher Candidates Community Involvement” by Solomon, Manoukian, and Clarke. I thought the narratives were the highlight to the reading. I felt I could connect with previous teacher candidate’s experiences, but also learn from them. In this reading two approaches are discussed about student’s perceptions of servicing learning either a charity orientation or a change orientation. From this reading, I realized that I am taking on a change orientation. Though I am at my community centre once a week I can see the difference the other teacher candidates and I have made. In the reading, it talks about a change orientation which involves developing caring relationships

Ladies and gentleman, we are gathered here to push the human race forward. We believe that by improving the educational system we are investing in our future, that everyone should be able to access the type of education that is right for them. Nowadays America faces a very distressful situation regarding the educational reach of our system, which has been engaged with several issues, such as unequal access to education, student dropouts, violence within the walls of the classroom, bullying, gender bias and standardized tests that put the educational community at the verge of a methodic and old fashion evaluation process which eventually lead to a particular lifestyle of the students. Also, the lack of interest in the matter of community service has been rising, as well as our concern for the safe keeping of the citizen’s humanitarian values.

My project involved helping the children in the park to better their skills in Baseball. Many of the children that went to the park had no basic knowledge of playing baseball, so it was my job to help the professional trainers in teaching them the skills required to play the sport well. The original proposal included that I had to maintain the field in playable conditions, but I went ahead and added dirt as well as passed a rake to remove holes in the infield of the baseball diamond. I also had to help the smaller children in batting practice by simply pitching them ten balls each, but I took it a step further by telling them in which way to position their arms and how to better their hitting techniques.

This semester I chose to do my service learning at Volunteers of America, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing and other assistance services to low-income citizens. Within this organization I took care of the elderly, both the one’s with disabilities and the one’s without; I helped the staff with daily activities necessary to the organization which affect the residents’ health. Not only did I help with the organizations’ responsibilities but I also decorated the facility for different celebrations and shared time with the residents in the foundation. Some activities included table games, physical exercises, beauty treatments and reading.

After discharging from the Navy I have worked in various areas but mostly in Community Work supporting those with youth and young adults who have mental health issues directly and various administration duties . I would like to proof read articles connected to The Young Diggers In the past I have performed similar role when I assisted in proof reading and copy editing while working in community organisations . The areas I focused on were ensuring that there was no punctuation or grammatical errors i.e. typos , the correct use of terminology or if there was missing phrases. I also assisted in checking the writing style and most importantly the overall readability of the articles . Interested in assisting in other areas if there is any need

For my Community Service Learning placement, I am volunteering for PAAL, which is a program for children and youth with physical and intellectual impairments. Their vision is to offer individuals who otherwise may not get the chance, an opportunity to participate in a wide variety of physical activities.

The facility I chose to volunteer at to complete my service learning was the CMPD Animal Care and Control. The CMPD Animal Care and Control was a good place to do my service learning because it related to my topic perfectly. The CMPD Animal Care and Control because they take a variety of breeds. They are also very informative about breed discrimination. The organization is part of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, but they work with animals. The organization provides safety to citizen and animals in the community. They promote proper pet ownership and loving homes for adoptable pets. Another goal is to decrease the overpopulation with spay and neuter clinics.

In the school environment, teachers may often experience different type of students that come from poor to wealthy families. As a teacher, it is important to learn and be open-minded about students’ backgrounds. In COE 202, my plan is to volunteer for the Boys and Girls Club and learn from my experience. It is important for me to volunteer because I need to experience what my future career will be like. Service learning can help one learn new things about what one’s interested in. The Boys and Girls Club is a good opportunity for me to see what it is like working with kids from low income families.

Within the Service Learning Project, I have learned quite a few things. I have learned that I know a lot more about history then I ever imagined I knew. I can explain events and facts than ever before, but most importantly I learned that the government and society begins with myself. I have a duty and role within Society and the United States government to act morally and defend our nation.

According to Kathleen Flecky and Lynn Gitlow, service-learning is defined as, “learning that occurs in experiences, reflection, and civic engagement” (Flecky & Gitlow, 2011). In recent years more universities are implementing service learning into their curriculum. A key concept of service learning is civic responsibility. Civic responsibility can simply be defined as your responsibilities as a citizen. As will be shown later in this paper, service learning can have many benefits not only to a student, but also to the community members

The project meet a recognized need in the community is I play with little kids, watch their safety, also assisting teacher. The project links to what I've studied in school was way back when I was in fifth grade. My teacher assigns me a kindergarten buddy, I teach him sight words and helping him writing sentences. I reflect throughout the service-learning experience is I have a happy time to play with little kids. I did not take leadership or ownership of the project. I prepared for this project talking to First Steps Director of the church. The strengths are teacher thinks I'm helpful and little kids like to play with me. I don't need any modification if I were doing this again, because my teacher is satisfied what I did.

In 2014, while living in Bermuda, I attended a youth conference with my two sisters in Baltimore, Maryland. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and when we arrived back in Bermuda it was all we were able to talk about for weeks. So much so that our aunt thought it would be a great idea to host a youth conference on the island. When she got the approval for the conference to take place in 2015 she told me that she would need my help in organizing it and I obliged since I love to plan big events.

Don’t you hate it when you notice someone is going through a rough patch in their lives, and all you want to do is help, but don’t know how to help or if you even can help? Well, there is always a way to help someone, but it might be difficult, at first. There are several ways to help someone through a difficult patch in their lives, and all you need to do is talk to them. Talk to them and ask them what’s going on, and how you can help? At first, they might be oblivious about the fact that someone is trying to help them, but sooner or later, they will come around if they truly want help. Since starting this opioid unit, I have learned a great deal about my community and the people who live in it. As a result of my work in this unit, I have paid more attention to the crisis in Scioto County, and have wanted to find a way to help. Let’s start by explaining what my experience has been with this unit, so far.

The first service learning activity I did was attending the Community Programs Office 9th Annual Welcome Reception featuring civil rights activist Dolores Huerta on October 23rd from 6:30PM to 8:00PM in Wilson Plaza. This reception is held every year at the beginning of fall quarter with a different guest speaking every year. This year I was fortunate enough to hear Dolores Huerta speak that night. She spoke about the obstacles and oppression she had to overcome throughout her life. She also spoke about current political issues and how we, as students, can help create change.