service learning teacher academy
TRANSCRIPT
“Everybody can be great, because everybody can
serve”~Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
How can the combined communities of national
service, civic education, youth development, and
progressive education join together to make service-
learning central to teaching and learning…advocating
for a different kind of school, a new way of teaching,
and a new breed of teacher who can embrace service
learning and how it can help students and communities
prosper?
What is academic service learning? and
how does it differ from community
service?
*Service-Learning is a teaching and learning strategy
that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and
reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic
responsibility, and strengthen communities.
Service-learning is an exciting, hands-on approach to
education. The core concept driving this educational strategy is
that by combining service objectives and learning objectives,
along with the intent to show measurable change in both the
recipient and the provider of the service, the result is a radically-
effective transformative method of teaching students.
How does it differ from community
service?
Service learning is often mistakenly perceived as being
identical to volunteer or community service because both
involve service projects that impact the welfare of others.
However, unlike general volunteerism or community service,
service learning is a method of teaching, not an end in itself,
and thus focuses on educating students… different from
traditional community service projects such as visiting
hospitals or nursing homes or cleaning up the local creek,
service learning also may stimulate social and political
change.
Service learning
•is
•is a form of
•is part of
project-based learning
The Need for New Measures
Improved Academic Achievement
Real Life Experience
Fosters civic involvement
Improves Social Skills
Benefits of Service
Learning
Citizenship: civic responsibility, individuals’ role in community, government systems
Social Skills: team work, leadership, communication, diversity awareness
Intellectual : critical thinking skills, problem solving, decision making, knowledgeabout social issues, academic subjects, organizing and planning
Personal: values clarification, personal ability to contribute to community, self-esteem
Work/Career Exposure: work ethic, job skills, exposure to career possibilities
Types of Learning
What Are the 21st Century Skills and
Competencies?
Many definitions but most have the following in
common:
Learning and innovation skills/inventive thinking
Effective communication
Digital-age literacy/technology skills
Productivity
Critical thinking/reasoning
Academic knowledge and skills
Contextual skills and awareness
Teamwork/collaboration
There is great promise in examining service-learning as an
approach to helping students acquire 21st Century skills
ACTIVITY:
What is the difference between service-learning and
community service?
How does service-learning relate to 21st Century skill
acquisition?
Develop a Balance between service and
learning
Examples:
1. service-LEARNING
2. SERVICE-learning
3. service learning
4. SERVICE-LEARNING
Developing Intentional
Learning Objectives
1. Are bound directly to the academic curriculum.
2. Meet a real community need.
3. Provide for structured group reflection time.
4. Engage students in group decision making
and problem solving.
5. Find ways to match the skills and talents of
students with the needs of the community.
6. Provide a wide variety of options for students.
7. Provide recognition for services rendered.
The Best Service Learning
Programs
Reciprocity Reflection Development: enabling to empowering; from observation, to experience; from following to leadership.
Meaningful Service Diversity
Service Learning:
Essential Elements
Service Activity(Experience)
Reflection/Observation(What?)
Interpreting(So What?)
Planning/Applying(Now What?)
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle
Discussion:
How Do We
Create
Political
Will?
How do we create the political will to promote the idea that all schools should adopt service-learning and change their orientation to 21st
Century skills and their assessment?
