Reflection On The Service Learning Placement At Mesa Middle School

Before deciding where I wanted to do my service learning, I knew I wanted to do something that had some relevance to my degree that I will be receiving in healthcare management. I was eager to gain more experience and become more knowledgeable of how an organization operates as it relates to healthcare management. I was able to secure an opportunity to volunteer at the Dallas Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital. After completing the required VA forms, I got partnered with Mr. Alonzo Price Jr. who is a Management Analyst in Ambulatory Care, which is the department that oversees the Primary Care Providers.

Denise McKinley is from Tulare, CA. She attended College of the Sequoias in Visalia, CA where she got her Associates degree in Social and Behavioral Studies. Currently she is attending California State University, East Bay where she is working towards her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology with an option in Social Services. She is participating in this program because she wants to educate the youth. She hopes to gain a new experience, by working with a different grade level. In the past Denise has worked with 3rd graders. Where she interned for Wilson Elementary School in Tulare, CA. Her goal is to educate and learn from the community in which she serves. Denise is looking forward to serving Washington Manor Middle School in San Lorenzo, CA.

Future Social Workers needs to look within themselves, so they will not get in their way while helping people in whatever setting. I already understand with unwavering clarity these lessons. I also know I cannot help everyone. Being in school will help me find my way to the group or population I will be most suited to partake or facilitate

My service-learning practicum takes place in the community setting at Connaught Elementary School in St. Catharines. At Connaught, I am doing a one-on-one mentorship with a grade eight student to help her with her transition into high school. I am at the school twice a week for a half hour; however this position requires a lot of pre planning outside of the school, in order to effectively help her with her transition. My tasks include preparing different activities for each time I go into placement. Our first few weeks consisted of preparing a resume for my student so that in 2-3 years when it comes time that she starts applying to part-time jobs she has a resume already put together, which she can add things and take things away from. Along with resume preparation, we have done a job interview role-play where I am the interviewer and she is the interviewee. In this time, we have had fun days where she would make popcorn, with two other students, and sell it to other classmates. My student has had a lot of problems with a bully, and she has an issue of being assertive to other people- meaning she finds it difficult to state her opinions and she easily gives in to other people. With that, I brought two jars from home and I turned them into “problem” and “solution” jars where we filled each up with a problem and a few solutions to that problem. My position is extremely important because I am a mentor to this student and our relationship involves support, patience, and

In the summer of 2014, I started as a volunteer tutor for the Youth Tutoring Program

Meadow View Elementary School was my practicum site for my Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). The assigned unit, was the Family Resource Center (FRC) which is a government funded agency. Erica Scott is the FRC Coordinator at Meadow View Elementary School, while completing the practicum, Erica Scott demonstrated the epitome of a great social worker. The social work profession requirements include: Being flexible as knowing how to prioritize and complete several tasks at once is crucial to getting things done in an effective and efficient manner. Empathy, seeing that the students/families are hurting and trying to help them to cope and move forward. Trustworthiness, as a result the students/families are more apt to be relaxed and open with her as they feel they can trust the coordinator with vital information and active listening, Scott’s knack to listen prudently, ask appropriate questions and retain verbally transmitted information is fundamental to opening doors and discovering valuable details about the students/families who seek help as a result understanding the students/families unique circumstances since the primary goal of the FRC is to “remove nonacademic barriers to learning as a means to enhance student academic success. The mission is to enhance students’ ability to succeed in school by developing and sustaining partnerships that promote early learning and successful transition to school, academic achievement and well-being, and graduation and transition into adult

I participated in service learning at Fraser school in Richfield. Starting in September I helped out in a toddler age classroom every Thursday. Fraser school is a preschool setting for infants and toddlers. Besides getting the children kindergarten ready and offering a somewhat typical day of daycare/school, Fraser offers occupational, physical, and speech therapy. Some of the children have disabilities and some do not, Fraser is not discriminatory and they provide care for anyone. Some of the things I did in the classroom were prepare snack and lunch for the children, play games, participate in art projects, music, and reading, and play games with the children. The two teachers really appreciated my help, as I was provided an extra hand for them while they prepared daily activities. Playtime was usually hectic for the group and it needed to be closely monitored. I was also able to keep the children safe and keep a close eye on the total of twelve toddlers during playtime. My experiences at Fraser helped me understand many topics we talked about in our Intro to Sociology class. A few topics that stood out to me the most were the idea of social integration and many of the functions of the education system, the three stages in the development of self, institutional discrimination with minority and group divisions.

This year I am working with students in a Junior High school, offering support services. The ages range from 11 to 15 years. When working with this population, you are faced with many challenges. Some students are open to the experience while others are apprehensive. My experience thus far has had several revealing moments where excellent supervision had an impact on my internship. Shulman (2008), states that supervision of students and practitioners is central to social work. He also states that central to the process is the idea of one professional with more knowledge, skill, and experience guiding practice and development of another with less. I am greatly appreciative of having a supervisor that listens, guides and challenges me to explore.

Over the course of the past few years, I have been very blessed to have professional experiences that reinforced my interest in social work. In 2014, I worked as a guidance counselor and learning support intern at St. Pius Elementary school in Greensboro, North Carolina. In the guidance-counseling department, I assisted with counseling appointments with children in grades K-8. We often discussed topics

As I begin to drive into Henderson’s Counseling Children text, I get an understanding that most of my previous experience with children has been a mere scratch of the surface. I took this course with the intentions of deepening my understanding of professional social work practice in counseling children. However, as I began the text, I now understand there are many other areas I will be subjected to including, but not limited to: policy, advocacy, therapies, counseling methods, crisis management and intervention, etc.

Throughout my service learning, I have mainly experienced working with children, at all different levels of skill set. There are several children in my classroom, who have Individualized Education Programs (IEP). I have worked with most of these particular students in small groups. One student I have spent a quality amount of time with is recovering from a serious brain injury. Although, my assistance has also been provided to all the students through teaching lessons and reading to the classroom. Thus, my service learning experience, has consists mainly of differentiating approaches, in order to provide support to students with a vast range of ability.

Constable, R. (2008, July 8). The Role of the School Social Worker. Retrieved from lyceumbooks.com: http://lyceumbooks.com/pdf/Sclsocwk7_Chapter_01.pdf

Many schools nowadays require students to volunteer a certain number of hours before they graduate. MCPS(Montgomery County Public Schools) superintendents are considering adding an extra 15 hours of SSL(Student Service Learning) to their graduation requirement.

The goal of service learning was to see teaching from a special educator’s perspective. By visiting Kankakee Valley Middle School, I got to learn a little bit more about what it takes to be a special education teacher. Working with students in special education comes with many unique challenges. The teacher has to communicate with parents daily, monitor behaviors, fill out IEPS, teach self-help skills, and much more. Along with all of that, the teacher has to teach the students the curriculum and make alterations when needed. It takes a calm, patient, and hardworking person to work with students that often need a little more support and assistance than their peers. All these qualities and much more were shown by Mr. Bryant and his three assistant

Over the past 16 weeks I have had the opportunity to volunteer in the learning experience and growth of a young child. The environment I was able to be involved with was one of the many elementary schools within the Oceanside School District, San Luis Rey Elementary. This school is a Kindergarten through fifth grade school consisting of approximately 350 multicultural, multi-language, lower socioeconomic students with fully credentialed instructors providing education. There are no more than three classes of each grade with some grades only having one class. I had the privilege to provided help within one of two second grade class consisting of approximately 24-28 students, mostly boys. Several of the students were English as a second language learner, which presented difficulty in their learning process. Within this reflection paper I hope to present my personal connections and growth through the process of service-learning, along with how this impacts the relationship of social justice.