The service learning program that best fits with my educational philosophy is the Fredrick County Youth Service League. This program teaches students two important lessons; local government is more active in their life than the federal government, and at the same time that it is more accessible. The program helps students develop important skills such as public speaking, facilitating meetings, conducting research, canvassing communities and designing surveys. These skills are applied in a real-world project, a presentation to the County Board of Supervisors. After the presentation students realize that they have the ability and the necessary skills to actively participate in civic affairs. The program shows that the local government can be a positive force for creating change in the community. After participating in the Fredrick County Youth Service League students become more aware of the functions of government and understand that they have the ability to make an impact. The program provides students with the opportunity to both learn about the issues and to do something about them.
The teacher that has an experience that I hope to mirror is Jeffrey. Jeffrey encouraged his students become involved in local issues that affected their lives. Jeffrey allowed his students to choose the cause that they would become involved with and allowed them to form their own opinions about the issues. Jeffrey was able to help inform his students about the issues using multiple perspectives, he facilitated having speakers from both sides of an issue come in to talk directly to the students. The students then started a letter writing campaign to the local newspaper advocating their chosen cause. I like Jeffrey's approach because it was student driven. Jeffrey did not dictate the cause or the course of action to his students. At no time did he indoctrinate his students by pushing his perspective on the issues. The potential flaw that I see with Jeffrey’s service learning project is that it does not necessarily explore the root causes of the issues.
Articles Cited:
Stagg, Allison. "Service-Learning in K-12 Public Education." CIRCLE: The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (2004).
Kahne, Joseph and Joel Westheimer. "Teaching Democracy: What Schools Need to Do." Phi Delta Kappan (2003) 85 no. 1. pp 34.
Wade, Rahima. "Service-Learning for Social Justice in the Elementary Classroom: Can We Get There from Here?" Equity & Excellence in Education (2007) vol. 40. pp 156-165
First Time, Long Time…
3 years ago
2 comments:
Kevin -
Good entry. I'm glad that you noted the skills-building opportunities that the FCYSL project presented. In what ways will your SLP at Henry Street help students develop similar skills?
I'm also glad that, while you saw many positives with Jeffrey's approach to using SLPs in the classroom - as per the Wade article - that you thought critically about its shortcomings as well.
Ali
The students who our SLP benefited most were HRT who presented the YHR presentations to the advisory groups. The HRT developed important skills that are necessary for civic engagement, such as working in groups and public speaking. The HRT was able to apply these skills when they gave their YHR presentations to their peers.
Like Jeffrey, our service learning project included discussions with experts. These speakers provided students multiple perspectives on human rights issues. Also like Jeffrey, our SLP did not explore the root cause of the issues. Given more time, I believe that it would have been beneficial for students to examine not only the results of human rights violations but their causes as well.
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