Through the articles and studies that I have read and evaluated along, the points of views from current and recently graduated high school and student teachers I collected, along with my own personal experiences, I believe that Service Learning should be an essential part of the curriculum for all grades across most subjects.

The research that I’ve studied indicates very positive impacts of service learning. Students who participated in service learning were more likely to vote, perform better academically, have better school attendance, and are more engaged in their learning. However, to be successful teachers implementing service learning in their classroom should be educated on the best and most effective practices. Service sites should be screened so that they are safe and effective places to perform meaningful service learning. Also it should be structured to where students know exactly what is expected out of the service learning assignment.

The personal interviews that I did helped me formulate my opinion of how service learning should be implemented. I think to some extent it should be used in every grade level K-12 so that students can learn at an early age the value of service to others and continue that throughout school and into adulthood. In younger grades I would suggest doing forms of service learning during the school day. This could be doing service for employees around school or in the form of a field trip around the community. During middle school service opportunities could be expanded to after school and outside of school depending on how accessible transportation is. Also in middle school, subjects like computer class, FACS, Ag and Spanish could all lead to new service learning opportunities. In high school is where I would expect service learning to really manifest itself. Students are older, more mature and can drive making it easier to incorporate service learning as an outside of school component of their grade or graduation.

I’m still unsure how service learning would be counted, as far as if it should be graded or just volunteer. I think this will depend on the type of service learning, the class and what the teacher wants to do.

I would love to bring service learning to the high school I will be teaching at in the fall. I will be teaching Spanish and have done service learning in my Spanish classes so I think implementing it will be practical and very beneficial to my students. I would love for my students to get involved tutoring younger students after school, teaching Spanish to elementary school kids during school, or volunteering during adult English classes.

I really enjoyed doing this Genius Hour project and think I will definitely implement service learning in my classroom because of the incredible benefits and positive impact it has on student learning and achievement.

I interviewed a couple of people about service learning being implemented in a K-12 setting. I asked each of them a couple of the following questions?

• If you were a high school student, how would you feel about service learning being a part of your class, let’s say your English class. You were required to spend 25 hours outside of class doing some sort of community service and writing about your experiences.
• If you were a parent of a student who had to complete service learning as part of their grade, how do you think you would feel about it?
• Do you think it should be a part of their grade?
• Can you think of any service activities right now you think would be beneficial for students to get involved with?
• What grades do you think should utilize service learning?
• What potential problems do you see with service learning?

 

Saranne Ezelle: 16 year old 10th Grader at Mary Persons High School

First I asked her what her favorite subject in school was and gave her an example of service learning that could be implemented in a math class (her favorite). For their service learning component they could be required to attend after school programs at the elementary school and help kids with their math homework.

In response to the questions she said: I think it would be very helpful having to have to explain and teach little kids. I think it would teach them responsibility  since they have to teach other students how to do something. They’re responsible for the learning of their student. I think it should be extra credit because the it would be beneficial for the people who  are willing to do it, because they are determined to do it. Some other service activities I can think of are picking up trash, going to nursing homes and tutoring after school. I think it should be implemented in 11th and 12 because they have cars and can drive. I cant think of any problems. It seems helpful and gives a lot to the students.

 

Carson Rowland: 18 year old Firefighter

I gave him the example of implementing service learning in a Spanish class. Their service learning project would be tutoring kids in a latino community, helping teach English in a latino community or volunteering in any organization within the latino community with the purpose of learning more about Spanish and the culture that speaks it.

I don’t think it’s too much trouble to implement service learning but I don’t think it should be be like an every week occurrence. I do think it would help with learning process and helping with interacting with people. I wouldn’t suggest doing it at a Spanish 1 level. I think it should be done individually or be allowed to work in small groups, but not the entire class all together. If I were a parent I think it would help a lot. It would help students get used to talking to people in Spanish. I think it should be done like this: do 5 hours of service learning at one of these particular places that have already been approved by the end of this month.  I think it should count as an assessment grade. I think using it in the high school range is preferred. They can drive and are older soit’s more convenient and not so dangerous.

 

Ashley Sapp: 22 Middle School Ag teacher

First we related service learning to how it could be implemented in an Ag classroom. Actually Ag has many versions of service learning such as the SAE.

She said, getting graded for service almost gives more value to the project because even if they don’t get anything out of service to learning itself, they get a grade. I think it can and should be implemented in any grade, even elementary school. Well maybe too young for elementary school because of the age of the kids and communicating with parents would be difficult. Maybe including service learning inside school or an after school program for younger kids who cant drive would be better than ann independent outside of school service learning project.