Service Learning is a great way for students to not only learn about something and themselves but to also give back to the community around them. One of my goals as an educator is to impact not only the people in my school but also in the community. I believe that if I encourage my students to help out in the community that it will help their own personal development as well with their education.
A hypothetical example I could implement into a high school history class would be asking my students to help serve food at a soup kitchen. I could offer this service project during a unit on the Great Depression so my students could draw parallels between the community service and the struggles of the people during the 1930's in America.
In Eggen and Kauchak's Windows on Educational Psychology they point out that in Knowledge Construction there is a "shift in emphasis from presenting information and toward providing the experiences and promoting the interaction that help students construct valid knowledge (198)."
My hopes would be that the students remember the content better through association. A different environment can really impact the way a student remembers things. My aim is that the students reactions are positive and long-lasting. I also want them to learn that giving back is crucial to their development as global citizens.
Some obstacles could be the day in which this could all happen; it makes the most sense for this activity to be on a Saturday. Saturday is a tough day for students to get out and do something with school because of work and lack of transportation. If it was during the week it could also be challenging because filed trips are difficult to organize due to budget constraints. Another obstacle could be if students react emotionally when they are working with homeless or less fortunate people.
Ormrad talks about service learning and the importance of enhancing students learning by being "sources of pleasure and success rater than sources of frustration and failure (232)." Giving students an opportunity to give back will increase their feeling of self-efficacy and impact them in a positive way.
I think your idea to incorporate serving in a soup kitchen during a unit on the Great Depression is awesome! I think this would not only be more engaging and interesting to your students, but would also give new perspectives on what life might have been like during this time period. Further, I believe so much more can be gained from real experiences than just being told about something, i.e., in class through lectures and discussions. I am also a strong believer in helping the community, as well as my students; service learning is definitely a way we can do this in our future practices!
ReplyDeleteI think that your desire to help the community in addition to helping your students will make you stand out in whatever school you teach at in the future. I think that it is a great aspiration for any teacher. I like your idea to relate the soup kitchen to the Great Depression, and I think it is very insightful of you to realize that some of your students may have an emotional reaction to this activity.
ReplyDelete