Today was a lot of fun. Perfect way, in my opinion, to start a week of class after a weekend spent outside. And while I’ve taken part in plenty of community service projects, I never really stopped to think of the learning component that could be attached to these types of activities.
As I was hauling buckets of water and pretending to be a pirate with a sword, I developed a huge list of internal questions. What so bad about these weeds? Why do we have to cut them down? Is this water I’m dumping on these plants even getting down to the roots? Hmmm…. What kind of plant is this and more importantly, can I cut it down? Did anybody else hear Nate scream like a little girl cause of a passing muskrat? Does improving just a few sections of a watershed really make a difference? What does a healthy water shed do to help anyway?
It wasn’t until afterwards that I realized today made me interested in learning about watersheds and creeks. It really was an ideal learning hook as it made topics that previously seemed dull suddenly have significance. Plus, if each student came back to class with just two or three questions, a teacher could easily start the collaborative inquires we discussed in Karen’s class.
In addition to content learning, there also was a definite feeling of accomplishment and reward. I cannot say that I feel connected into the community and well-being of Lewiston but doing something environmentally helpful promotes a certain level of awareness. This awareness in turn could promote other positive environmental acts in sort of an upward, positive spiral. I would imagine that this could hold true with other types of service learning projects. To use another example from Matt, students taking part in project that involved working with autistic children would develop heightened levels of empathy and compassion for those different then you. Extra empathy and compassion then translates into additional acts of kindness. In short, the act of actually doing positive deeds promotes future socially productive behaviors.
And to think… all these benefits while getting to sword fight with evil pirates (the big tall weeds)… Amazing!
Strange how a little creativity can take a day of hard labor and turn it into a fun adventure. And weird you were inquiring the whole time. Imagine how the curiosity of a student might be able to run wild with their experience outside in the ‘wilderness.’ It would be amazing to get to take kins out and almost literally watch them think. Now I could not take my kindergarteners to do labor like we did today but we could still go and learn about the plants, wildlife and conservation efforts. I can only imagine the projects I could do after a day like that. I did get to experience a lot of this in high school. We were blessed with a creek running right through campus. We had three different bridges to cross from one side of campus to the other. Science classes dedicated a lot of time out in the creek, doing restoration, testing the water, and even helping with fish counting. It was fun and being that we had ‘ownership’ of the creek we wanted to take care of it.
ReplyDeleteThe question is can we do it in our classes now? The funding in our district is not there so it would be up to me to find it. A grant or donations would have to come through to not only pay for buses but anything thing else we might need for the field trip. But after today I feel that it would be worth it.
I too am impressed with how curious you were the whole time we were working. I liked your view on incorporating students with special needs into volunteering and seeing the vast impact that it would have, not only on the project, but the workers, volunteers, and students themselves.
ReplyDeleteI have my students volunteer as part of their grade in my class, but service learning seems more beneficial. Being able to take something being learned in class and applying it is a powerful way to engage students. It is also fun, obviously allows for the use of imagination, and gives the much needed opprotunity to get outside. Districts would also be more willing to help if they knew the benefits for every students. All of this is good, but now I'm sad that I missed Nate's pre-pubescent girly screams of terror. Mine is no longer the most depressing blog.
ReplyDeleteI think there are endless possibilities with this service learning method that I was unaware of until last week. I’ve decided it should be a requirement for all humans. After all, we all utilize and want to enjoy this earth, so we should all have to help take care of it. Emphasizing these ideas to our students will help promote consciences citizens in the long run.
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