Service-Learning

What is Service-Learning?

A method by which students improve academic learning and develop personal and career skills through structured service projects that meet real needs.
In such projects, students practice skills and behaviors they need to learn via service. Service is a means and application of learning.

Preparation: assignments for research, needs identification and assessment, discussion, site visits, policy examination, project design
Action: service that flows from preparation. Either direct, indirect, advocacy or research.
Demonstration: presenting, teaching, performing, advocating, etc., about service.
Reflection: writing, discussion, evaluation, future planning, etc., about needs & service.

Recognition: celebrating what students and partners have accomplished.
Reciprocity: collaborating to ensure those who receive service play an active role in defining needs and activities.
Youth Empowerment: integrated into all other components.

Duration and Intensity: SL has sufficient duration and intensity to address community needs and meet specified outcomes.
Link to Curriculum: SL is intentionally used as an instructional strategy to meet learning goals and/or content standards.
Partnerships: SL partnerships are collaborative, mutually beneficial, and address community needs.
Meaningful Service: SL actively engages participants in meaningful and personally relevant service activities.
Youth Voice: SL provides youth with a strong voice in planning, implementing, and evaluating service-learning experiences with guidance from adults.
Diversity: SL promotes understanding of diversity and mutual respect among all participants.
Reflection: SL incorporates multiple challenging reflection activities that are ongoing and that prompt deep thinking and analysis about oneself and one's relationship to society.
Progress Monitoring: SL engages participants in an ongoing process to assess the quality of implementation and progress toward meeting specified goals, and uses results for improvement and sustainability.

Direct person-to-person, face-to-face, tutoring, work with elderly, etc. - projects in which students' service impacts individuals who receive the service from students.
Affective impact: Care for others, dependability, responsibility, getting along with others who are different, problem-solving, big-picture learning
Indirect - environmental, construction, restoration, drives, etc. - projects with clear benefits to a community as opposed to specific individuals.
Affective impact: cooperation, teamwork skills, playing different roles, organizing, prioritizing, project-specific skill developmentTypes of service-learning, cont.
Advocacy - working, acting, speaking, writing, lobbying, etc. - projects that create action or awareness on an issue of public interest.
Affective impact: perseverance; understanding rules, systems, and processes; compromise, engaged citizenship; working with adults.
Research - surveys, studies, evaluations, experiments, interviewing, etc. - projects that find, gather, and report on needed info.
Affective impact: learn how to learn/get answers/find info, make discriminating judgments, work systematically, organize, assess, and evaluate.

Projects can live without principal and district support, but cannot grow, thrive, or be sustained without it
Administrator support includes visual, vocal, financial, running interference, scheduling, providing substitutes, providing other resources, links to policy and mission, encouraging training and conference participation, cutting through red tape/removing obstructions

Students learn best when learning situations promote stimulation (sensory & emotional) leading to the discovery of new knowledge rather than through memorization/repetition
Brain-basedlearningneedsfrequent challenges, continual novelty, emotional and physical stimulation, and dramatic feedback for best learning
The Brain Works Best When there is . . .
Active engagement in the learning - S-L actively engages learners in hands-on work with others
Choice of activity or project - S-L empowers students to choose, design, implement, and evaluate projects
Feedback and reflection - key components of S-L
Variety and novelty - S-L moves students from theory/concept to reality
Complexity and challenge - S-L is real-world application
Functioning in a social setting - S-L engages students with others at all stages

Youth in charge of youth service- learning mini-grant projects.
A group of youth who design, disseminate, review, and select applications to do youth service- learning to meet real needs.

Cognitive (academic,problem-solving, performance on tests)
Civic domains(interested in community, likely to serve in future, feelings of efficacy)
Personal/social domains(caring about others, patience, personal responsibility, cultural sensitivity, confidence, avoidance or risk behavior, empowerment)
Career exploration skills(knowledge of career paths, workplace literacy)