Posts Tagged ‘Service Learning’

« Older Entries

3 Big Ideas for Building Service Learning Partnerships

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Today’s post comes from Shane Williamson, Community Learning Specialist at HandsOn Battle Creek.

HandsOn Battle Creek, located in Battle Creek, Michigan, has worked with their local community college (Kellogg Community College), K-12 public/private schools, and The LEAGUE Michigan, to lay the foundation for a community wide service-learning partnership. The goal of the partnership is to incorporate the concept of service learning into school lesson plans and missions as well as increase the amount of support and capacity for non-profits to manage volunteers and their own community impact goals. While this process takes time, there are some guides, from our experience, for those volunteer centers looking to start these types of initiatives in their community.

  1. Seek out your local higher educational institution. Colleges and universities are almost always looking for a way to get involved in the community in which they are located. Between your volunteer center’s contacts, the college’s contacts with community partners and their base of students (who are great volunteers), you will be able to begin incorporating service through those channels. This can lead to inclusion of faculty and academic programs in the future; thus leading to service learning.
  2. Do not try to “reinvent the wheel”. Work with organizations that are already doing the work you want to accomplish. At HandsOn Battle Creek, we already were partnered with The LEAGUE Michigan. This organization’s mission is to recruit and train K-12 teachers in the concept of service learning leading to a sustained presence of this concept in the schools. HandsOn Battle Creek was able to use their partnership to branch out to almost every school in the Battle Creek area. We are now seeing positive results from the trainings with the amount of projects taking place in the schools that are tied back to academic curriculum.
  3. Engage community partners every step of the way.  Your community partners will let you know what type of capacity they have for student volunteering. They will also let you know what they need in order to increase that capacity. Meeting with community partners, offering trainings on the concept of service-learning, and regularly checking in, has made the process of building this community-wide initiative possible. Without these commitments from our community it would be impossible for our college to begin making a service learning experience mandatory in the coming academic year.

These are basic types of guidelines, but the bottom line to each of them is that you must listen to your community at every level. This type of concept cannot be prescriptive. If all groups, students, schools, and organizations come together and have a stake in the process of building this type of relationship; the outcome will be more sustainable and long lasting.

We would love to share our experiences, information, and work in this field. let us know what your experience working to build a service-learning program has been in the comments!

 

Related articles

Tags: , ,
Posted in Education, Service Learning | No Comments »

The Importance of Meaningful Service Learning

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Today’s post comes from Davida Gatlin, Manager, Training and Technical Assistance for generationOn.

As a lifelong volunteer, now working in the volunteer management field, I must admit was shocked when a close friend told me, “I’m not that excited about volunteering.”

“Not excited? I just don’t understand.” I sputtered. What’s not to like, right? For those of us who serve regularly, it seems like second nature. Service gives you an opportunity to be part of a solution, to make a difference in the world, to use your talents, to exercise your skills and to build new ones.

“What’s not to like?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I guess I just wasn’t raised to be a volunteer”, my friend said. “It’s not something that I’m used to doing.”

This begs the question: Are raising a nation of volunteers? According to the most recent Volunteering in America report from the Corporation for National and Community Service, 4.4 million teenagers (age 16-19) dedicated 377 million hours of service in 2010. Impressive as these numbers are, 4.4 million teenagers only represent 26.1 of the total population of that age group. Far less information is available about the number of youth younger than 16 engaged in service.

So how do we reach more youth? And where do we reach them? Again, according to the Volunteering in America report, educational institutions are among the most popular organizations through which teenagers volunteer. Including service-learning, the intentional use of service to support academic as well as socio-emotional goals for students, in schools provides students space in which to engage in service activities as well as opportunities to for youth to learn to exercise their voice and choice.

5 reasons to include service learning in school curriculum

Participation in service-learning…

  1. promotes positive thinking about self and community
  2. encourages greater civic engagement
  3. supports positive cross-cultural and intergenerational experiences
  4. encourages positive behaviors
  5. can create a lifelong connection and commitment to service and volunteerism

And 5 ways to ensure that service learning in schools is meaningful

  1. Give students time for reflection, both pre- and post-service. Encourage students to ask questions, to make connections and to assess how they feel about the service experience and why.
  2. Intentionally connect service experiences to curricular goals and objectives. Consider the background knowledge and skills students need to carry out a service project.
  3. Engage in service activities that meet real community needs. The experience will be much richer and fulfilling if students see the positive effects of their actions.
  4. Give students the opportunity to lead. Youth can take an active role in every stage of the service-learning process from investigating a community need to project evaluation.
  5. Acknowledge the efforts of all participants. Help students find a forum through which they can showcase the results of their efforts.

Want to know more about service-learning? Visit generationOn, the youth division of Points of Light Institute, for more information. You can also sign up for generationOn’s upcoming educator webinar, Effective Planning for Service-Learning: Spotlight on Preparation, on October 5, 2011 at 3:30-4:30pm EDT.

You can also infuse service in your school culture as a generationOn School. Whether you are a teacher trying out service-learning for the first time in your classroom or a seasoned administrator working to sustain a school-wide culture of service-learning, you can join the generationOn Schools movement!

 

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Education, Volunteering | 2 Comments »

Tips for Building School and Nonprofit Partnerships

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Service learning is a great tool to get students more involved in their communities and great way to teach lessons in a way that is meaningful. It allows students to put their lessons into practice and see the results of their efforts.

Before you start planning service-learning projects, though, it’s a good idea to build partnerships with some local nonprofits.

Building a partnership allows students an opportunity to return to the same nonprofits and see the impact of their work. Partnerships also let teachers build better projects with the help of the nonprofit, and nonprofits get to share their issue areas with students.

Before building partnerships, though, there are some questions that schools and nonprofits should find out the answers to.

What should nonprofits ask schools or teachers?

  • What experiences have you had in community service or volunteering? What impact have those experiences had on you?
  • Why are you interested in a partnership?
  • What do you think is the most important reason for involving youth in service learning?
  • How could service learning help you to address major challenges you face in educating students?
  • If you could make one dream come true through service learning, what would it be?
  • What is the one thing you hope your students would learn about our community and society?

What should schools or teachers ask nonprofits?

  • What have been your organization’s experiences in working with schools?
  • What have been your experiences working with children and teens in your agency?
  • Why are you interested in a partnership?
  • What do you think is the most important reason for involving youth in service learning through your organization?
  • What are the major challenges you face in providing service to our community?
  • If you could make one dream come true for those served through your agency, what would it be?
  • What is the one thing you most hope service learning will accomplish in our community and society?
Finding out the answers to these questions can help to build a strong, mutually beneficial relationship between schools and nonprofits that can help to support service learning programs.
Have you built partnerships with nonprofits or schools? Let us know in the comments what you think is important to know when you’re starting a new partnership!

Related articles

Tags: ,
Posted in Education, Service Learning | No Comments »

The Importance of Mutual Respect to Youth Service and Leadership

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

When you’re trying to engage youth in volunteering and service learning programs, it’s important to respect the skills and viewpoints that they can bring to the table. Positive relationships depend on mutual respect.

Respect – Respect means that adults respect youth and youth respect adults for their ideas, skills, experiences, and resources. When people are respected, they are freed to take risks and to act on their dreams.

Engage – Kids and teenagers need opportunities to engage in meaningful work in their communities. While administrative chores are a necessary part of most service projects, the ‘grunt work’ shouldn’t fall solely on the kids and teens while adults assume all of the major responsibilities.

Support – Agencies need to invest in youth just as they would invest in any volunteer effort. That investment may include training, supervision, supplying materials and other needs. In return, youth should support the agency and program by being dependable, participating in training opportunities and acting and speaking responsibly on the agency’s behalf.

Partner – Youth leadership is really a partnership between youth and adults who work side by side to plan, manage, serve, and evaluate based on a common goal. Both youth and adults are colleagues in the process, each brining particular strengths and perspectives to decision making, priorities, and project management.

Evaluate – Young people, along with adults, need regular opportunities to evaluate their own efforts in terms of the services being offered and what they are learning from their involvement. Continuous evaluation allows for improvements based on what has been learned.

Communicate – Regular communications of expectations, needs, concerns, and affirmation by both adults and young people create a healthy environment and can prevent problems.

Train – Although some people have natural leadership ability, no one is expected to become a leader without preparation and training. Young people are no different. They need training before they begin their service, and they need ongoing training and refelction to improve their knowledge and skills. They also need to be given an opportunity to make mistakes and to learn from them.

 

 

Tags: ,
Posted in Service Learning, Volunteerism | 1 Comment »

8 Tips for Making Service Learning Work

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

Several factors make a big difference in whether an agency’s efforts in service learning are effective.

Agency-wide commitment

An organization’s commitment to service learning often starts with on person advocating for including service learning in the organization and bringing others to share their perspective. once a commitment to service learning permeates the organization, it will become much simpler to sustain a quality program because everyone in the organization is committed to service learning.

Youth serve and lead

Effective service learning efforts see students as key members of the planning team, not just participants. Giving students opportunities to assess needs, develop plans, and implement projects contributes to their growth.

Strong school partnerships

Agencies can operate effective student community service program on their own, but service learning has the most impact when it involves a partnership with a school so that students can take full advantage of the elarning that is stimulated through the service experience.

Clear learning and service goals

Not every service opportunity will appeal to everyone. Students will need to do their share of the work that doesn’t seem as exciting as the actual service, like finding a project site, identifying community needs, and planning what the project will look like.

By working with other students, teachers, community members and other partners to set learning goals and how those goals will be achieved can make the service more meaningful and productive.

Age-appropriate, meaningfl service

Just as you would match anyone’s skills and strengths with a particular service area, the same is essential in working with students. Projects or assignments need to take into account the students’ abilities so they can be stimulated, challenged, interested, and engaged by the service experience.

Effective program management

Service learning is most effective when it builds on a well-managed volunteer program with established procedures. In these cases the basic processes and procedures are already in place and can be adapted to the particular needs of students and service learning.

Sustained involvement

One shot service projects can build enthusiasm and interest, they’re harder to build a quality service learning experience around. To be most effective in providing long-term involvement, schools, students and agencies need to work together to plan how the service-learning program will grow.

Reflection

Reflection is an essential component of service learning. It completes the learning cycle, giving students the opportunity to think about what they did, what it means, and what they will do because of their experience.

this not only benefits the students, but it also strengthens the service they provide. As the students become more knowledgeable and sensitive about the issues, more skilled in the activities, and more aware of an organization’s needs and challenges, they can become better at planning their service projects.

 

Have you involved your students in planning service learning projects? Do you work with an agency that has a lot of service learning students volunteer? Let us know what you’ve found works best for planning service learning projects in the comments!

Tags: , ,
Posted in Education, Service Learning, Volunteering | 1 Comment »

18 Benefits of Service Learning

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

When done well, service learning has the potential to benefit everyone involved.

While involving children and teenagers in service learning requires a significant commitment and may require redesigning some elements of your volunteer program, many agencies find that the rewards more than make up for the extra work. Agencies have seen many benefits when they include youth service learning in their volunteer programs:

  • Agencies gain new partners in their efforts to fulfill their mission
  • Young people bring a sense of vitality and excitement to the organization
  • The agency gains positive visibility and exposure in the community and the school
  • Service learning can open up new opportunities for funding and other resources
  • By involving young people in an agency’s work, service learning helps to nurture the next generation of committed volunteers

Just as anyone who provides service gains from the experience, students benefit particularly when their needs for learning are taken into account in the planning and implementation of a project. There are a lot of benefits for students who take an active role in planning and executing their own service projects when they’re tied to a lesson plan:

  • Service learning can enhance personal development in areas such as self esteem, moral reasoning, social skills, communication skills, problem-solving abilities and concern for others and society
  • Involvement in service learning makes the subject matter in school real and relevant for students as they try out their knowledge and skills
  • When young people serve others, they can see that they are valued and can make a real difference
  • As young people discover their own abilities to address issues, they are empowered to become active citizens and communities begin to see them in a different light
  • Young people learn leadership skills as they take responsibility for designing and implementing service experiences

There is virtually no limit to what young people can do, no social need they cannot help meet. Through service-learning programs, communities gain many things:

  • Unmet needs are addressed and problems solved
  • Creative ideas and solutions are offered for perplexing problems.
  • New energy and commitment emerge for the community and the common good.
  • Communities see students as valuable resources

As schools search for more effective educational strategies, many are turning to service learning as a powerful method for revitalizing education and improving student achievement. When students participate in service learning, schools benefit:

  • Students are more engaged in their education and their community
  • Students learn more readily because they are learning by doing
  • Community members become partners with schools in educating students
  • Schools are seen as resources to the community, helping t build support for the schools

 

Have you planned service-learning projects with your students? Has your organization benefited from students’ service-learning projects? Tell us about your experience in the comments!

Related articles

Tags: ,
Posted in Education, Service Learning, Volunteering | 7 Comments »

7 Tips for Successful Service-Learning Projects

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

Service-learning projects can be a great way to get youth involved in service. Here are seven tips for planning effective service-learning projects.

Choose age appropriate projects. Younger students will respond well to projects that have a lot of action and that have results that are easy to see. Projects like park cleanups and helping to sort food in a food pantry are great for younger students. Older students usually like longer-term projects that allow them to get more involved with the work they’re doing and the people they’re serving.

Keep it simple! Meaningful projects don’t have to involve extended planning – they can be simple and take place at the students’ school.

Have the students help plan the project. Involving students in planning the project from the start will help to give them a sense of ownership to the project and help them to get more involved.

Develop partnerships. Setting up a partnership with your local HandsOn Action Center or volunteer center can be helpful in planning a variety of projects. Ask students to suggest a group they’d like to serve and build a relationship with an organization that serves that group of people.

Engage students in reflection. Reflection on the service aspect of students’ service-learning experience is a key element of the project. The time spent in reflection allows for teachable moments and can improve students’ understanding of both the service that they did and how the lessons they’ve learned relate to their service. Some good questions to ask during your reflection time are:

  • How did our project make a difference? Is there anything else we could have done?
  • What did we learn that we can apply to other parts of our lives?
  • How did helping people make you feel?
  • Should we do a follow up project? What more can we do?

Celebrate efforts. It’s important to recognize the work that students are doing for their service-learning projects. Make sure to praise students during the planning and implementation phases of their projects, and afterwards when you come together to reflect on the work that was done. If organization staff or clients come to you to thank you for your work, graciously accept their thanks but remind them that the students are the ones who planned the project and are doing the work so that they can thank the students directly.

Have fun. Service-learning projects are teaching tools, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be fun! Make sure to build fun into the project, even though there is a lesson attached to it and the service project may be serious. Service and volunteering is as much about having fun as it is about helping others.

Have you planned a service-learning project with students? How did it turn out? Let us know in the comments!

Today’s post on the Points of Light blog talks about the importance of service learning in instilling an ethic of service in youth. You can read it here.

Read this post on the National Conference on Volunteering and Service to find out about sessions that deal with youth service and using service as a tool in education.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Service Learning, Volunteering | 2 Comments »

The National Service Learning Conference Comes to Atlanta

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011

This week, over 2500 educators, youth, and community organizations from fifty states and thirty-four countries will be coming together  in Atlanta—and we are honored to be one of the co-hosts of the National Service-Learning Conference.

Setting the stage for a lifetime of service is vitally important to the health of our communities and  our nation. Positive, impactful, and fun service projects that can make our nation’s youth feel like they can be part of the solution to some of the biggest problems that we face are an important part of solving those problems.

Through generationOn, more than a million young people in all fifty states and countries around the globe are having a positive impact on their communities. generationOn is taking a comprehensive approach to improving schools and the lives of children by leveraging the transformative power of service and service-learning.

The Conference is occurring at a critical time as our nation actively seeks an array of solutions that will help us to achieve a graduation nation and at the same time develop a new sense of civic responsibility for this generation. The Conference presents an opportunity and a needed platform for us to bring some of the top thought leaders and innovators together to explore how we can grow service-learning as a strategy that connects learning objectives to community needs, while empowering youth to discover their potential as world citizens.

Getting youth involved in service early and in a positive way is the best way to get them to lead a lifetime of service. Teachers and parents can work together to help to ensure that today’s youth will be tomorrow’s service advocates and change makers.

In The Wisdom of the Sands, Antione Saint-Exupéry advised, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” So, too must we teach our youth that service is not a chore but a pleasure, that acting to change their communities for the better is not work but an adventure.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Education, Events, Michelle Nunn, Service Learning | No Comments »

8 Standard Practices of Service Learning

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

“How do we institutionalize a culture of service so that it transcends calls to service, generations, countries, cultures and time?  I often thought that if we could make service a true rite of passage in a person’s life – starting early in school, providing opportunities and inducements along the way, and igniting a passion to something beyond the pursuit of material goods, it would be a good start.” —John Bridgeland, President and CEO of Civic Enterprises, IBM Service Jam.

The difference between teaching service in schools and service learning is that service learning is integrated into the curriculum.

Every service learning opportunity should be tailored to meet specific academic goals.

The National Youth Leadership Council suggests that successful engagements will incorporate the following eight elements:

1. Meaningful Service

Service learning actively engages participants in meaningful and personally relevant service activities.

2. Link to Curriculum

Service learning is intentionally used as an instructional strategy to meet learning goals and/or content standards.

3. Reflection

Service learning incorporates multiple challenging reflection activities that are ongoing and that prompt deep thinking and analysis about oneself and one’s relationship to society.

4. Diversity

Service learning promotes under­standing of diversity and mutual respect among all partici­pants.

5. Youth Voice

Service learning provides youth with a strong voice in planning, implementing, and evaluating service learning experiences with guidance from adults.

6. Partnerships

Service learning partnerships are collaborative, mutually beneficial, and address community needs.

7. Progress Monitoring

Service learning engages participants in an ongoing process to assess the quality of implementation and progress toward meeting specified goals, and uses results for improvement and sustainability.

8. Duration and Intensity

Service learning has sufficient duration and intensity to address community needs and meet specified outcomes.

“Service-learning is not an add-on to the classroom lesson, it is the classroom lesson.” -IBM Service Jam

Learn more about Service Learning at the upcoming NYLC Conference to be held in Atlanta, April 6-9, 2011.

You can also find great service learning curriculum and ideas at generationOn.

These standard practices originally appeared as a sidebar in IBM’s Service Jam White Paper. We thought it was great and wanted to share it.  You can download the full Service Jam white paper here.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Education, Equip, Service, Service Learning, Tools You Can Use, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries