Service Learning Commons^™

Reading, Writing And Service Learning, National Helpers Network, Inc.

School K-12

Cross-age tutoring programs, like the National Helpers Network's "Helpers Promoting Literacy" model, in which middle and high school students serve as reading tutors to younger children, have been popular fixtures in many school service learning programs in recent years. Described by many as "win-win" programs because both the "tutors" and the "tutees" improve their reading skills as a result of participating, these programs are often integrated into English and language arts curricula and give students the opportunity to learn by teaching. But a look at programs throughout the nation shows that service learning practitioners are expanding on that idea and …

Service Learning Makes The Grade, Rich Cairn, Susan Cairn

School K-12

Connecting service learning to specific standards presents challenges for educators. In Minnesota, teachers and students are pioneering assessments that effectively evaluate performance in light of learning goals.

If All Youth Served: Empowering Youth To Build Community Through Service, Lenore M. Parker

School K-12

This document contains: List of Tables; Acknowledgements; A Vision Statement; Research Findings; Liability Issues and Engaging Young People as Volunteers; Supervising Young People as Volunteers; and Appendix A: Publications About Engaging Young People as Volunteers.

Service Learning In Alternative Education Settings, Susan Meyers

School K-12

When service learning is part of the curriculum, students become involved in something important and learn that they can make a difference in the world. Based on John Dewey’s (1938) theory of experiential learning, service learning takes the student out of the classroom and into the community. In a 1995 public address, Secretary of Education Richard Riley remarked that “by involving students in hands-on learning, problem solving, and applications of academic knowledge in real settings, service learning can increase students’ academic achievement in challenging subjects and creates a sense of engagement that enhances a student’s motivation to complete school.”

Introducing …

The Use Of Service Learning To Promote Understanding Of Gang-Related Issues Faced By Adolescents, Patrice Paul, Kathy Sexton-Radek, Janina Adickas, Bridget Fousek

School K-12

Service learning provides an opportunity for college students to experience classroom curriculum in a real-life setting. In addition, service learning provides the community with services otherwise not available. Such a program has been designed to assist with reduction of violence in the schools while simultaneously allowing college students to experience, hands-on, the people and issues they are studying. In this program, students in an adolescent development course were trained in a six-week group intervention aimed at building skills for positive communication, resolving differences, and preventing violence. A specific protocol involving skill-building exercises, role-plays, discussion. and at-home assignments was followed. Specific …