The For Our 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).

Service Learning is an educational strategy set in place to enlighten students with instruction and experience, in addition to improve learning , teach responsibility, and support the community. Service learning is vital to the development of the student, given that it intertwines academic and personal development together. It is aimed to enhance a student’s learning in all aspects of life.

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.

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

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.

Before commencing service learning, I had a number of misconceptions towards people with disabilities. Before volunteering, I had a lack of understanding, viewing people with disabilities as dependent and in need of constant help. Another misconception towards people with disabilities was focusing on the person’s lack of ability rather than the individual which consequently resulted in a one-dimensional outlook towards people with disabilities. Reflecting upon these views, I am appalled with these naive and prejudice

After some research and deliberation, I chose Habitat for Humanity (HFH, 2016) for my service project. There were several reasons that Habitat for Humanity appealed to me. The first reason is that I consider HFH to be a worthy cause is that I appreciate that it’s for a lower income family that would not otherwise be able to afford a home. The facts that the beneficiaries are expected to help build their home or other HFH homes with sweat equity, they’ll pay a mortgage, combined with the way it’s set up so they won’t be able to just sell as a short term flip, gives me the impression that it’s not a freebie entitlement program, but a program that promotes responsibility with some life changing results.

The purpose of this service-learning project was to educate and provide evidence based knowledge to associates that work at ShopRite in Flemington, N.J. on easy ways to identify, selected foods, which are beneficial to a similar looking body part. For example, the kidney beans are beneficial to the kidneys except if someone has kidney disease. My aim was to increase the knowledge of ShopRite associates so that they will be able to identify and more importantly recall quickly while shopping what foods are good for what parts of the body. The importance of associating foods that looks like body parts help keep learning simple, fun and informative. The best way to learn is to engage in an activity where learning does not appear to be the objective. Accidental learning can ‘stick’ so that when individuals are trying to incorporate healthy eating options into their diet recalling it will be simple.

In the document titled, In the service of what? The Politics of Service Learning, authors Kahne & Westheimer, discuss “the moral domain, service learning activities and the two different assumptions regarding political socialization”. Particularly what it means to be a citizen (Kahne & Westheimer, 1996). They describe social sustainability projects as being able to meet students’ needs for “personal relevance and a sense of membership in a community”. One way this can be achieved is by encompassing volunteerism and compassion for the less fortunate and vulnerable individuals in our communities. It is with this definition in mind along with the vision of Bronwyn Sheehan founder of The Pyjama Foundation, that allow me to see the robustness of

On average on 26% of Americans volunteer, this surprised me on how low this number truly was. I now understand why community service is required for most classes, because without us kids out volunteering the numbers would be substantially lower. This proves to be true by a study done by Debra Blum shows that hot spots for volunteer work is in college towns, such as Provo, Madison, Wisconsin and Iowa City, Iowa. To me this is pointing out that people that have higher education are more likely to give back to their communities. This can be explained with certain theories that will be broken down later in the essay along with other materials.

Currently, I am engaging in service-learning at a non-profit organization called Waite House. This organization is located in Minneapolis, specifically in the Ventura Village neighborhood, which is located in the Phillips community. Engaging in service-learning at Waite House has been a positive experience for me thus far because I feel “at home,” both during the commute and the volunteering experience. The commute is approximately thirty minutes on the public bus and quite often I find myself enjoying the ride. The bus travels throughout various neighborhoods with people from many different backgrounds. While being on campus at the University of Minnesota, I do not experience much diversity in my daily life. Starting off my volunteer days with a bus ride of people who I can relate to in different ways makes the experience much more exciting and valuable for me. Specifically, I see people of all ages, speaking languages and slangs that I can understand. This makes the experience more exciting and valuable for me because I am comfortable in this environment; therefore, I do not feel forced to volunteer at Waite House. As soon as I arrive at Waite House I see the heart-warming smiles on the faces of most of the children as they walk off the school bus.. However, not everyone is smiling. Some of the children are angry because they do not like the idea of after-school programming or engaging in learning opportunities. Oddly enough, this enhances my service-learning experience

Everyone knows that children will run the future, that the present day youth will soon be leading our country and our world. However, if everyone has heard this and knows it to be true, why are we not giving them the best education we can? If children are going to run the future, they should learn the necessary skills to do so. Kids are like sponges, whatever they learn while young, they will soak up and use forever. Essentially, we are reaping what we sow. Children need guidance and role models if they are going to be successful in the future. The Boys and Girls club is founded on that very belief. That not only are all children important and special in their own ways, that they will use their unique talents to shape the future. By teaching them critical skills at a young age, then they can use them later on in life. I did my Service Learning Experience at the Boys and Girls club at Paradise Intermediate School. I will be illustrating the different aspects of my time there, and how they relate to the class itself.

Thank you for reading and replying to my post. I agree with you everyone should have the right to service learning, it gives the opportunity to everyone to see the lives of others outside their box. Sometimes we are so busy with our own lives, responsibilities that we tend to forget about the needs of others and that is a problem. Teaching our students will also help us as teachers and the parents will also be involved in the process, and thru their children's' those parents that perhaps were never taught service learning can benefit from it as well.