ERIC ED430128: Connecting Communities through Service Learning. Linking Learning with Life.

39 Pages·1998·0.43 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
CE 078 655
ED 430 128
Lyday, W. Jackson; Winecoff, H. Larry; Hiott, Beverly C.
AUTHOR
Connecting Communities through Service Learning. Linking
TITLE
Learning with Life.
National Dropout Prevention Center, Clemson, SC.
INSTITUTION
Corporation for National Service, Washington, DC.; South
SPONS AGENCY
Carolina State Dept. of Education, Columbia.
1998-00-00
PUB DATE
38p.; For related documents, see CE 078 654-667.
NOTE
Illustrations and colored type may not reproduce clearly.
National Dropout Prevention Center, College of Health,
AVAILABLE FROM
Education, and Human Development, Clemson University, 209
Martin Street, Clemson, SC 29634-0726; Tel: [phone];
Web site: http://www.dropoutprevention.org/ ($6).
Non-Classroom (055)
Guides
PUB TYPE
MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
Agency Cooperation; *Citizenship Education; Cooperative
DESCRIPTORS
Planning; Coordination; Delivery Systems; *Educational
Benefits; Educational Cooperation; Elementary Secondary
Education; Human Services; *Partnerships in Education;
Public Agencies; Records (Forms); *School Business
Relationship; *School Community Relationship; *Service
Learning
ABSTRACT
This booklet, which is intended for individuals involved in
the delivery of service learning, provides ideas and strategies for
developing or expanding service learning partnerships. The booklet begins
with an overview of service learning that outlines service learning's
benefits to schools, the community, and service learning partners. Discussed
next are types of service learning activities (direct service activities,
indirect service activities, and advocacy) and service learning project
models (one-shot projects, ongoing projects, and student placement models).
Next are explained the benefits, characteristics, and operation of the
service learning partnerships with human service agencies and civic
organizations, business and industry, and schools. The following four phases
of establishing service learning partnerships are detailed: generating a
service learning resource file; identifying the appropriate agency options;
assessing effectiveness of the project and the partner; and strengthening and
sustaining partnerships. The roles and responsibilities of the following
partnership members are outlined: service learning coordinator, service
learning teachers, students, agency/organization representatives, school
administrators, and service learning advisory teams. Concluding the booklet
are reflections from students, community agencies, and schools involved in
service learning. Appended are the following forms: service learning
agreement, community service evaluation, student evaluation, and service
learning observation.
(MN)
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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
CENTER (ERIC)
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received from the person or organization
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TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)
1
Points of view or opinions stated in this
document do not necessarily represent
official OERI position or policy
Connecting Communities
Through Service Learning
by W. Jackson Lyday
11. Larry WinecofF
and Beverly C. Hiott
3
Linking Learning With Life
© Copyright 1998, South Carolina Department of Education
This publication was prepared with funding from the
Corporation for National Service through a Fund for the
Advancement of Service Learning grant funded to
the South Carolina Department of Education in partnership
with the National Dropout Prevention Center.
Total Printing Cost: $3,624.00
Total Units Produced: 3,000
Cost Per Unit $1.21
:;1
'4
Connecting Communities Through Service Learning
Table of Contents
Preface
1
Overview of Service Learning
3
Definition of Service Learning
Benefits of Service Learning to Schools,
Communities, and Partners
Types of Partnerships
7
Partnerships With Human Service Agencies
and Civic Organizations
Partnerships With Business and Industry
Partnerships With Schools
Establishing Partnerships: The Process
13
Phase One: Generating a Service Learning Resource File
Phase Two: Identifying the Appropriate Agency Options
Phase Three: Assessing EfFectiveness of the Project
and the Partner
Phase Four: Strengthening and Sustaining Partnerships
Roles and Responsibilities Within the Partnership
18
Final Reflections
22
24
References
Appendices
25
Appendix A: Service Learning Agreement Form
Appendix B: Community Service Evaluation Form
Appendix C: Student Evaluation Form
Appendix D: Service Learning Observation Form
About the Authors
32
Linking Learning With Life
Preface
zS to produce adid&
societ
wko can/motion effictipel:y as parents,
workers, anicitizois, then new
structures anarprocesses fir socializing
ne of the exciting
,youth must 6e createarwitkin tke
things about service
fiamework oftke scliooritseand-zn
learning is the willingness
cooperation wig ot/ier institutions
of practitioners to share
serping ,oung people."
ideas and experiences
Dan Conrad and Diane Hedin.
which lead to program
improvement and refine-
It is great to know that you don't have to reinvent the wheel.
ment.
Once educators, students, and the community understand some of the
basic ideas and benefits of service learning, it is relatively easy to move
implementation.
on to the strategies for partnering and project
This publication is designed to give the reader ideas and strategies
for developing or expanding service learning partnerships. One of the
drawbacks in describing service learning and community partnerships
is that people can become overwhelmed by the prospect of establish-
ing new relationships and commitments. Service learning, through its
school/community partnerships, involves many interlocking compo-
be
nents and must address many important issues if the process is to
successful and sustained.
Educators and program managers understand the importance of
strategic planning and implementationthe ready, aim, fire approach.
Yet, seasoned educators and program managers also note that the
ready, fire, aim approach can also bring about significant benefits. A
good rule of thumb for those who want to start service learning
programs is to start simply, but simply start.
Service learning entails the sometimes daunting challenge of
bringing about change. Effective service learning programs require
practitioners who are good community educators and good change
agentspractitioners who are not afraid of uncertainty, risk taking, or
thinking big while starting small. Service learning teachers and
administrators are characterized by open-mindedness, by continuously
learning,iand by a
searching for opportunities to enhance student
6
Linking Learning With Life
desire to empower students and develop student leaders for a demo-
cratic society. Educators who are patient but persistent, who see the
school as an integral part of the community problem-solving process,
and who are committed to the concept of youth as one of our commu-
nities' richest resources are the ones who make outstanding service
learning teachers.
It is our hope that this booklet will help educators develop commu-
nity service learning connections which benefit all sides of the partner-
shipthe student, the partner agency, and the school. Well developed
and managed partnerships help build healthy minds, healthy schools,
and healthy communities.
Jack Lyday
Larry Winecoff
Beverly Hiott
.**
Connecting Communities Through Service Learning
2
Overview of Service Learnin8
john W. Gardner, in Building Community (1989), suggests that
families and communities are the ground-level generators and
preservers of values and ethical systems. No society can remain vital
or even survive without a reasonable base of shared values, and such
values are not established by edict from lofty levels of society. They
are generated chiefly in the family, church, and other intimate settings
in which people deal with each other face to face. The ideals of justice
and compassion are basic to nurturing communities.
Gardner's concept of community is essentially the raison d'etre
for service learning. The school is the key intimate setting from which
students move into the community to develop a sense of shared values
and ethics as they come face to face with others in the community
who are in need of help or who are in the business of helping others.
Definition ofService Learning
Service learning is an initiative which works with all types of
students and which can be employed at all grade levels. Not only has
it been found to be one of the most effective strategies for helping
"high-risk" students stay in school and succeed academically, but it is
also a way to help all students have more meaningful learning experi-
ences in any subject area whether academic or applied.
It is not an
add on, but simply a powerful methodology which
can be used across
the disciplines to help students grow personally, socially, and academi-
cally while at the same time benefiting schools and communities.
The National and Community Service Trust Act of 1990 defines the
term, service learning, as a method:
under which students learn and develop through active participa-
tion in thoughtfully organized service experiences that meet actual
community needs and that are coordinated in collaboration with
the school and community;
3
Linking Learning With Life
curriculum and
that is integrated into the students' academic
talk, or write about
provides structured time for a student to think,
actual service activity;
what the student did and saw during the
newly acquired
that provides students with opportunities to use
their own communi-
skills and knowledge in real-life situations in
ties; and
extending student learn-
that enhances what is taught in school by
the community and helps to
ing beyond the classroom and into
for others.
foster the development of a sense of caring
similarity to the defini-
Community educators will notice a striking
philosophical concept which
tion of Community Education as a
of the entire community.
embraces the educational needs and interests
the catalyst for
This definition calls for the local school to serve as
problems in an
bringing community resources to bear on community
improve community
effort to develop a positive sense of community,
the end of self-
living, and develop the community process toward
and Cairn (1991)
actualization (Minzey & Le Tarte, 1972). Kielsmeier
they state that community education is in
come even closer when
the school as a
reality a complete philosophy of education that sees
Both of these defini-
in the community.
resource for and full partner
the essence of service
tions of community education encompass
problems.
learningmobilizing students to help solve community
Benefits of Service Learnin8 to Schools,
Communities, and Partners
academic, social,
The service learning literature is filled with the
the student. The
personal, and career benefits of service learning to
learning part-
benefits to the school, the community, and the service
noteworthy.
ners are equally
C&Inecting Communities Through Service Le2rnin8
4
Benefits to Community
Benefits to Partners
Benefits to School
Provides much
Makes the curriculum
Mobilizes youth as a
needed resources
resource instead of a
relevant
community problem
Helps achieve partner
Develops students'
responsibility for
goals
Addresses real
their own learning
community needs
Introduces next-
generation leaders to
Builds good, productive
Links the school to the
the important work of
community in positive
citizens
the partner
ways
Promotes a "sense of
community" for many
Bonds agencies with
Provides "real world"
schools and helps build
students who do not
experiences
new partnerships
have stability in their
Develops SCANS skills
lives
Provides opportunities
(problem-solving,
to enhance public image
teaming, higher order
Develops next-
thinking, time manage-
generation leaders
ment, and other vital Introduces students to
career options in the
workplace skills)
Develops an ethic
partners' areas of
of service and
commitment to the
Expands learning service
environment beyond
community
Gives the partnership a
the classroom
different lens through
Provides shared
which to view and
Motivates reluctant responsibility
for student learning
learners
assess its work
Helps nurture and train
Challenges some
Promotes problem-
solving and conflict ingrained ways of doing
the future workforce
management skills
business
Makes good economic
Infuses youthful vitality
Helps reduce school
sense
problems (behavior,
Helps build healthy
attendance, tardiness)
communities
0
Linking Learning With Life
5