Reflective Essay On Service Learning Experience

I signed up to volunteer at a local nursing home. Because my father works there, I have been there many times before. However, volunteering there was very new to me.

A Service Learning project is one of the project requirements to complete the Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree through Ferris State University (FSU). My Service Learning experience was completed at the VA Medical Center (VAMC) in November, 2014. This paper includes details of the facility along with the contact information for the coordinator of the project. A description of my role as a volunteer, critical reflection of my experience, and a synthesis of the Service Learning are also included.

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 service day on April 5th, really gave me a precious opportunity to have access to the life and health of immigrant persons from South America and their priorities in life as well as their consideration about health. This is my first time to help so many immigrant persons from South America check their blood pressure, height and body weight, and give them information about how to have access to free clinical and blood pressure control as well as weight management. I really thank Professor Raja, because it was she who gave us this precious experience to do service for and know this special population in USA.

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

For example, I discussed the different ways in making earth a cleaner place by simply recycling and the importance of everyone conserving water to not be wasteful due to the drought. At the end of our discussions we always had a related arts and craft activity to address the topic issues of the week. To complete my service learning hours I volunteered Tuesdays and Thursdays for three consecutive weeks. Tuesday’s I volunteered about four and a half hours and on Thursdays a little over eight hours. The majority of the staff at the center consists of volunteers or interns from the departments of public health, nursing, and dietetics of Fresno State. The center does not have any registered dietitians or nutritionists working for

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.

A study done by the National Training Laboratory Institute (1999) found that “on average, students retain five percent of what they hear, ten percent of what they read, thirty percent of what they see during demonstrations, and seventy-five percent of what they practice doing” (para. 2). Service-learning remains a program that integrates community service, reflection, and practice to improve the students learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen community and school relations. This learning strategy aids students in learning numerous skills, traits, and lessons that classroom instruction alone cannot teach. It makes learning relevant and enjoyable for the students by taking them out in the community and letting

I have completed my service learning as of March 18, 2017, and I can say it was a lot of fun. Me and five other friends enjoyed our spring break the same way other college kids did, but in the process, we cleaned up our environment. With the beaches crowded with spring breakers, the beach also became littered with trash that would have harmfully impacted our ecosystem. Our group spent about two hours walking along the beach picking up garbage, while avoiding the overly intoxicated. Along the way, we listened to good music, met interesting people and felt as though we were doing society and Earth a great service. Two weeks prior my sister, cousin, mother, and I took a trip down to South Beach where we also performed a trash cleanup on the beach.

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

I would like to say that I am not anxious at all for this service experience. I have completed all my PEG responsibilities and this class is outside of my major requirements. Therefore, I am coming into this opportunity with a warm heart and open mind. I have wanted to work with children for as long as I can remember. The service at Verner will give me a glimpse into my future.

For my service learning aspect of this course, I volunteered at Lawrence Catholic Academy. There I worked one-on-one with a fourth grade boy who was struggling in all of his subjects. His grades were not very high and he needed a lot of extra help. One reason as to why he wasn’t doing well in school was because he rarely ever did his homework and therefore he always fell behind in class. Another thing that I had found out just a couple of weeks ago is that he was very sick last year and he had to miss half a year of school. Since he wasn’t in school for half of the year, he didn’t learn the material that he needs to know and therefore he is even further behind compared to the rest of his peers. I would always try my best to help him understand

One concern of universities that are considering adding service learning is that not enough students will be interested in participating. There are several ways to get students interested in service learning. One way to get their attention is to give students who participate extra benefits. Some examples of extra benefits would be extra credit in their courses or even offering free credit hours. Another thing that would appeal to students is that the class would meet less often because one on the classes meeting times would be their service learning project. Another benefit of service learning is

“Be a reflective teacher. Honestly look at what you do from time to time. Evaluate the purpose of your role as a teacher.” (Robert John Meenham, 2011)

The term ‘‘service-learning’’ means a method (A) under which students or participants learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service that (i) is conducted in and meets the needs of a community; (ii) is coordinated with an elementary school, secondary school, institution of higher education, or community service program, and with the community; and (iii) helps foster civic responsibility; and (B) that (i) is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students, or the educational components of the community service program in which the