Service Learning Commons^™

Standards Of Quality For School-Based Service Learning, Alliance For Service Learning In Education Reform

Service Learning, General

Service-learning is a method

• by which young people learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service experiences that meet actual community needs and that are coordinated in collaboration with the school and community;

• that is integrated into the young person's academic curriculum or provides structured time for a young person to think, talk, or write about what he/ she did and saw during the actual service activity;

• that provides young people with opportunities to use newly acquired academic skills and knowledge in real-life situations in their own communities; and

• that enhances what is taught …

Outline Of Legislation: National And Community Service Trust Act, Corporation For National Service

Special Topics, General

The national service initiative is designed to tackle the nation's problems by mobilizing Americans of every background, and particularly young people, in service to our communities and country. The programs extends support for service from the youngest elementary students to our oldest citizens, and includes everything from part-time volunteer activities to full-time public service jobs. The centerpiece of the effort to support service is a new program to offer educational awards to Americans who make a substantial commitment to service.

"Leave School And Learn": Seekonk High School's Independent Study Program, Jay D. Anderson

Special Topics, General

Change comes slowly to education. Schools are bound by tradition and a high school curriculum often remains constant. There are many reasons for a curriculun1 not changing, including meeting the course pre-requisites for college admission. Often, however, there is a resistance to change. As a result, many students take the same courses as their parents took when in school.

Tackling Society's Problems In English Class, Jim Burke

Special Topics, General

A high school teacher's impromptu unit on "Social Problems" gave his students an opportunity to develop their writing skills while expanding their concept of community.

Fairy Tale Friends, Mary Chamberlain

Special Topics, General

As students grow into responsible citizens. they need to realize that the quality of their lives is affected by the quality of the relationships in their lives.

This Community Service learning Unit - Fairy Tale Friends - was designed as part of the language Arts, English and Reading, curriculum. Middle School students will work on a Fairy Tale Unit. They will learn characteristics of Fairy Tales and fiction, using strategies of the writing/reading process. and cooperative learning. After the completion of the unit, they will work with elementary students, helping them write Fairy Tales.

Part two of their instruction will …

State Of Service Report: Executive Summary, Minnesota Office On Volunteer Services

Special Topics, General

Since the mid-1980's Minnesota has articulated a comprehensive vision for youth service which calls for the integration of service into the full spectrum of a person's life. Organizations reaching K-12 young people, college students, adult volunteers, and full- and part-time service volunteers in the Minnesota Conservation Corps and other programs would provide service opportunities at every age level for every Minnesotan. We continue to advance toward that vision with important achievements outlined in this report.

Evaluation Of An Intergenerational Service-Learning Project For Undergraduates, Robert G. Bringle, John F. Kremer

Intergenerational

An appropriate objective within a liberal arts approach to education is enhancing students' awareness of attitudes toward their own aging. A combined intervention of intergenerational experience and didactic instruction had a favorable effect on students' attitudes toward older adults i11 general and on students' uie'w of their own later lives. Additional positive consequences are discussed, and suggestions for running similar curricular components are presented.

Elder Mentors: Giving Schools A Hand, Marc Freedman, Natalie Jaffe

Intergenerational

Mentoring is threatening to become a buzzword without meaning. We hear about mentoring for principals, for teachers, for students, for employees in a wide range of businesses and industry. There is mentoring by principals, by teachers, by students, by corporate executives, by members of the community. There is mentoring designed to help adult "mentees" (an ungraceful word) be better administrators, teachers, practitioners, or employees; to help youth adjust to society after incarceration or institutionalization; to do better in school, take good care of their children, not get pregnant in the first place, stay out of jail; stop taking drugs-and on …

Using Csl With Special Education And Reading Resource Students, Barbara Carter Ellis

School K-12

During 1992, as my students and myself created a community service learning opportunity, we were introduced to the fun of researching statistics, to developing our problem-solving skills and to the complexities of geography. But most of all we, as a team, learned ways to improve the ways in which we worked with each other in small groups, in our classrooms and in our community.

"Connections" Volunteer Centers And Schools: Partners For Service-Learning, Volunteer Centers Of Pennsylvania

Partnerships/Community

As interest in school improvement has become an increasingly salient national issue in the 1990's, interest in community service and service-learning as an integral part of education and educational improvement has shown a similar increase. In Pennsylvania, the proportion of school districts offering academic credit for community service has grown from 5% in 1989 to 20% in 1992; the number of school districts requiring community service for graduation has grown from one to seven. A series of national studies and reports including the Carnegie Commission's 'Turning Points," the W. T. Grant Commission's "Forgotten Half," and Dr. Ernest Boyer's influential books.High …

A Multiculturally-Responsive Tenth Grade English Curriculum Nurtures An Appreciation For Individual Differences By Immersing Students In The Lives Of Others, Jayne Alexander

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

The goal of a practicum was that high school students in non-academic 10th grade English classes would develop an understanding of and appreciation for cultural differences. The English teacher challenged herself, her peers, her students, and the general school population (a regional high school in a growing community in the northeastern United States) to become more knowledgeable and appreciative of many cultures by expanding her own knowledge of ethnic groups; creating a faculty reading club; developing a curriculum that responsibly presented ethnic groups in a relevant format; designing activities that provided opportunities for interaction with other cultural groups and for …

Curriculum Workshop, Robert D. Shumer

Evaluation/Reflection

This is an introductory workshop on developing curriculum using a student-centered, community-based approach. It is founded largely on the philosophy of John Dewey and represents an approach produced at the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development. It has been implemented in many school districts across the country in the 1970s and 1980s, and is still a very viable approach to curriculum development in the 1990s. It is not specifically limited to service-learning programs; it is applicable to any program where students expect to earn academic credit for learning which occurs outside the classroom. It is intended for use …

The Domestic Volunteer Service Act Of 1973 (As Of October 1, 1993), U.S. Government

Service Learning, General

(a) Because of the long-standing importance of volunteerism throughout American history, it is the policy of the Congress to foster the tradition of volunteerism through greater involvement on the part of individuals of all ages and backgrounds.

(b) The purpose of this chapter is to foster and expand voluntary citizen service in communities throughout the Nation in activities designed to help the poor, the disadvantaged, the vulnerable, and the elderly. In carrying out this purpose, the Corporation for National and Community Service shall utilize to the fullest extent the programs authorized under this chapter, coordinate with other Federal, State, and …

Service- Learning And Forestry, Lei Lane Burrus-Bammel, Gene Bammel, Jack Newhouse

Service Learning, General

Although the topic of "service" appears to have received more attention recently in higher education than in previous years, it is not a new concern. As early as 1869, Charles Elliot, in his Harvard inaugural address, asked, "And what will the University do for the community?" His response was, "It will foster the sense of public duty - that great virtue which makes republics possible." Elliot's premise was that institutions of higher education ought to support those activities which develop generosity, civic mindedness and the capacity for conscientious action. Since the post-Civil War period a number of famous individuals have …

Describing Service-Learning: A Delphi Study, Robert D. Shumer

Service Learning, General

Service-learning is spreading. Congress passed the National and Community Service Act (1990) and states have been implementing service-learning programs in record numbers. With the rapid expansion, people have been asking "Am I doing it right?" or "What is service-learning, anyway?" These are good questions ... ones many have asked for some time.