Sean brought a great point today that I had been considering myself for a long time. What is the difference between service learning and volunteering, and when should we get credit for our volunteering? To me I always thought of volunteering as something that will help others and also help us grow. I thought Adrian replied to Sean with the perfect thought, the grade the students are earning is not based on hours but the experience they got out of it. I can see the justification of giving a grade or points for the experience.
To me the problem lies in how I am going to apply this to my class. I feel that I am left with more questions than answers. I need to address these questions one by one. First I need to find out what Idaho Falls has to offer. What programs are set up for young kids to get to experience service learning? Once I see what I have to work with then I can move on to setting it up. Ideally I would love for us to go to the service learning but there are a lot of obstacles. Our district has cut off all busing for field trips, we have no public transportation, and because of traffic safety reasons we are not allowed to walk anywhere. I am already looking into grants to get money to help with these obstacles but there is no guarantee I can get a grant every year. And I want to set something up that can be on-going throughout the years. Looking into something that can come to us at the school might be the better idea for now.
Something I have done in the past but have slacked on recently is having the kids make cards for elders at a retirement home. I am thinking I can expand this project into something so much more. I think it would be fun the kids to have a “grandparent pal,” someone they can draw pictures for write letters to, and make special cards. But along with this the pals can write back. Hopefully the kids might be able to see the difference their cards, letters, and drawings had; showing them that a small amount of service can make a difference. If possible maybe our pals could come visit us sometime and even start volunteering in the classroom and our school.
Breanna,
ReplyDeleteSince I come from the exact same obstacles as you, I completely see your perspective! I also see Idaho Falls as an area of the universe that is probably in great need. I don’t feel a whole lot of compassion or service to others in our region. I think it would be very rewarding to work on fostering this attitude in our students! I love your grandparent “pal” idea! I did a similar project last year. We wrote Christmas cards to a soldier in Iraq, who happened to be a father of a student. My class loved this project and it made them and I feel very excellent about the work we had done. I should have done more reflection with the class about why we were doing this project and how they felt about it. I guess this is something to consider for next time.
Thanks for the thoughtful comments. I thing that if we begin including service learning in schools at an early age, the kids will not be "about the grade". Service will become a part of their everyday lives. The learning part will just be about the things they learned whether in or outside of the classroom. I think the real benefit to society will come when others try to give back without it being an assignment.
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