Reflection Paper On Service Learning

In the assigned article entitled “Why Service Learning” by Bruce W. Speck, it provides great insight as to why we need to engage in service learning. This article focused on the questions that were like the reasoning behind service learning and how does it benefit the student. One definition in the article that stood out to me was service learning being defined as a pedagogy that fosters the development of skills and knowledge needed for participation in public life. This was prevalent because it allows the student to network with others outside of the community while giving back. Service learning was created to get away from the traditional way of learning while implementing a new learning system.

It is also a “boundary spanning” activity in that it requires active involvement from people both within and outside of the classroom context, often resulting in participant contributors who represent a variety of generations, ethnicities, social groups, and experience levels (Billig and Furco, 2002, p.vii). Service-learning is designed to reduce the boundaries between an institutional campus environment and the community around it. It is designed to connect learning to real experience through service and reflection (Ball and Schilling, 2006; Becker, 2000). As a baseline to facilitate this development, service-learning is distinct from other types of community service and civic engagement experiences in that the service-learning experience must not only have a service and reflective component but also be clearly tied to the curriculum through learning objectives and theoretical underpinnings (Bloomquist, 2015; Pritchard, 2001). As Barbara Holland, former Director of the U.S. National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, shared, “Service-learning is all in the hyphen. It is the enrichment of specific learning goals through structured community service opportunities that respond to community-identified needs and opportunities.” (Kenworthy-U’Ren, Taylor, and Petri, 2006: 121).

The critical difference of service learning and the traditional learning style is that students are learning and addressing real needs in the community. Which connect students to the community through meaningful interactions with others, safety, and educational needs. This specific course includes readings, discussions, and activities to support

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.

I have had the opportunity to volunteer for the All Major Career Fair. I have volunteered many times before, but never had the opportunity to do a career fair. I have found through the experience that I need to volunteer more often. Before I volunteered for this career fair, I have not volunteered in a while. Whenever the Kennesaw State has another career fair I will definitely take the time out to volunteer on my own.

In Service-Learning and Academic Success: The Links to Retention Research, Dan Simonet puts forth the idea, that students more involved in their learning benefit socially and academically. His writing uses a formal approach to inform educators about the ways that Service-Learning can improve the academic success and retention of their students. Explaining one of the advantages for educators, Simonet suggests that service-learning can be a tool to help create “positive relationships” with their students (1). Simonet uses climax to organize and present his evidence, providing various examples of research throughout the article, to further the claim that service-learning increases student retention and bolsters their academic success.

I had a little trouble getting assigned an individual to work with for service learning, but after communicating with the coordinator of service learning, I was able to be paired with someone. I have sat and talked a lot with the resident I am working with. We have talked about personal life experiences and her everyday life. As the resident began to open up to me she had mentioned that just prior to moving into The Hope House in January, she had gotten out of a marriage. She stated “I was unhappy the whole time I was in this marriage.” She didn’t go into much more detail. I began to be curious as to why she was so unhappy in the marriage and I felt sad for her. We continued talking and she said “I didn’t know it at the time, but I was really depressed while I was in that marriage.” The resident explained to me that she didn’t know she was actually in a depressive state until she had been coming out of it, here at The Hope

The article addresses the significance and true meaning of service learning and how it should apply to your educational experience. Service learning is a complicated concept because it is closely related to volunteering and general community service activities. The main difference appears to be a direct application of education in the service experience. A volunteer contributes for the betterment of the group they are supporting and maybe for the benefit of their human experience. Service learners should be contributing to the group for which the service is provided while benefitting and complimenting their academic process and evaluating the impact of the service on the learning experience.

As a service learning coordinator, I worked with faculty to implement service learning in the classroom by helping teachers develop and adapt current curriculum, lead and co-teach classroom lessons, educate and train faculty in the field of service-learning. In addition, my role was to serve as community liaison for the purpose of identifying sites for individual student’s service-learning placements and larger, multi-student project sites. I worked with local businesses and community leaders interested in exploring new ways to connect students with the community and bring the community into the public school

My service learning was based on the campus sustainability. The most important thing that I learned from doing this community service project was that people really do care about our school, our campus, and they do care for others. From the very first meeting, the students that participated during this project had a lot to say about how we, as students and teachers, should always help clean up our school. By helping keep Dillard clean, it shows not only cleanliness, it also shows that we care about this school. Well I cannot speak on everyone's behalf, but I know most student would love to come to a school that is clean and appreciated.

The purpose of service learning is to teach new skills and information. It is also meant to teach responsibility and strengthen the communities. (Office of Civic Engagement & Service Learning, 2015) Service learning is a form of community service and is meant to enrich people’s lives. It helps them to have a better understanding about things going on in this world.

For my service-learning assignment, I will be assisting students with their English via, Learn English Online (LEO). Our first week was used as an Open House, where we tried to work out some technical errors, and get a feel for the program we will be using. This was our first week of LEO, and I had only one student, Suyuan Chen, a 26-year-old PhD student from China. Since it was an Open House, there wasn’t an exact lesson for the week, but I did take the opportunity to go over Past Tense Verbs with Suyuan. I had her tell me stories about previous vacations, so I could hear her use verbs in the past tense, and help her correct her speech. Suyuan, also had some issues when it comes to using plurals, and singular forms of a noun, we worked on

The first time I heard about service learning at Saint Anselm College was when I took a tour in my Junior year in high school. As the tour guide was explaining what service learning was, it immediately sparked my interest. As a student, I learn better in a more hands-on atmosphere, and this experience seemed perfect for me. After arriving at Saint Anselm College and being offered to participate in service, I definitely knew that it was something that I wanted to participate in. I feel very fortunate to have had this experience, and

My completed my at the VITA site two hours on Saturday, April 9th, from 9am -11am. Being, that it was the last Saturday they would be open for service I figured it would have been busy while I was there. When I got there Ms. Silver seemed to be really busy. The tasks she gave me was to file the papers documents by last name that were filled out by those who were getting their taxes done and to greet people when they arrived.

Switching teachers, students, and even the academic level of students makes for both an interesting and somewhat difficult transition in terms of service learning. Unlike Mrs. Gawriluk’s classes, which throughout the day honors or advanced placement, Mrs. Casanova’s classes are regular Government in the morning and regular Economies in the afternoon. The rapport I have with the students is also a bit lacking, as I have only ever meet the students once during an observation under my internship class. As such, I have not been able to have group interactions with the students, and the students are more hesitant to seek help from me within the classroom. As only one notable example of me answering a student’s question comes to mind; the question itself was based on my opinion of UCF, not even on the content within their class. Beyond this change, Mrs. Casanova is a young, first year teacher that did not graduate without a full Education degree. While I had expected to see this teacher’s newbie like style to come out, I however, have been pleasantly surprised to see Mrs. Casanova doing more or less what Mrs. Gawriluk does within her class. This of course is due to the PLC in which she and another teacher are in with Gawriluk, and the support the school gives to new teachers. This Empowering of school culture comes into play within these PLC groups, as teachers who are regular, first year teachers are paired with veteran, AP or honors teachers. This helps get rid of the stigma first year teachers may have about teaching regular kids, as the strategies and support they receive are tailored to higher achieving students.