What Are Some Other Service Learning Ideas

Involving your students in community service can feel similar an impossible task when yous already have countless piles of curriculum to comprehend during the school year.

Merely what if you could achieve both of these at the same fourth dimension?

You've probably heard of service learning. Maybe you've even wanted to utilize it in your classroom, simply aren't exactly sure what information technology is or how to become virtually it.

When done properly, service learning is a fantastic course of experiential learning the whole class tin can savor. Including service learning projects in your curriculum encourages students to learn almost relevant issues, get involved in customs service and engage with academic content — all at the same time!

Let's offset with the basics.

What is service learning?

According to theNational Youth Leadership Council, it's "a philosophy, pedagogy, and model for customs development that is used as an instructional strategy to encounter learning goals and/or content standards."

In simpler terms, service learning is an educational method that combines bookish goals with community service projects. Lessons about relevant customs issues are combined with existing form content to optimize the bookish feel.

At the same time, students proceeds hands-on experience doing service projects to tackle community issues and make positive changes.

The beauty of service learning is that something real and concrete is occurring. Learning takes on a new dimension. When students are engaged intellectually and emotionally with a topic, they tin low-cal up with a revelation or make a connection between two previously separate ideas. What they've learned in school suddenly matters and engages their minds and their hearts. Cathryn Berger Kaye, Grand.A. Writer of The Complete Guide to Service Learning

Teachers can provide real-world examples of the curriculum they're teaching. Students are given a fresh perspective on what they're learning and can apply it to the projects they work on.

Unabridged classrooms make positive changes to the community, and everyone reaps the rewards.

How is service learning different from community service?

It's neat to get children involved in community service as soon as possible, but service learning adds an extra layer to brand it even more benign for students.

Service learning is a more educatee-centered approach than other forms of customs service, such as volunteering. The focus is on student experiences, and the entire service projection is designed around providing as much education as possible every stride of the way.

Most kinds of community service help the customs more than the person providing it, just the benefit is reciprocal with service learning. Students and members of the customs can both be equally satisfied.

What are the benefits of service learning?

Sure, it sounds expert, just at this indicate you may be wondering, "tin can this actually benefit my students?"

The uncomplicated answer: yes, it can! In that location are many proven benefits of adding service learning to your curriculum. Research from the University of S Alabama found that around 80% of students who took function in a service learning projection found the experience "highly beneficial." These students saw improvements in their communication skills, cocky-sensation and cognition of customs needs.

In some other study, service learning programs improved the grade-point averages of students 76% of the time. Students in the program were more engaged, punctual and interested in grade content.

In addition to the above findings, service learning can:

Assistance students make connections between dissimilar bookish subjects by using an interdisciplinary teaching approach
Encourage students to positively contribute to their communities, while likewise aligning to class curriculum
Permit for a hands-on learning feel
Ameliorate academic outcomes, attendance rates and class engagement
Promote common respect and kindness
Boost levels of self-esteem, empathy and responsibility
Increment awareness of community needs and local or global issues
Reduce the run a risk of behavioral problems in the classroom
Strengthen classroom communication

The ideas and examples provided below will help you lot bring service learning to your classroom and run into many of these benefits come to life for your students.

What does service learning await like?

A expert service learning program follows a specific format so didactics tin occur throughout the unabridged process. Creating a detailed program for each footstep of the way will arrive easy to introduce your programme and keep students engaged, while meeting basic standards to ensure success.

The general guidelines for a service learning plan include:

Training — This is the stage where you lot gear up yourself and your students to take on their service project. Yous can commencement by deciding on a project to tackle, figuring out how to tie it in with your curriculum, and forming community partnerships with local organizations your class tin piece of work with. Then you can teach your students about the customs issue to prepare them for activity. Brand sure yous choose a project that isrelevant to your customs.
Tip: Requite your students a vocalisation during this stage to keep them interested. For case, you tin can accept the course vote on which community upshot they want to support or on individual roles within the project.
Activeness —This is the hands-on component where the class gets to apply what they've learned and apply it to a real service project. Students will now directly aid customs partners and those affected past the issue with actual community service work.
Reflection —This stage lets students reflect on their service project, consider what they learned from it, and apply their learnings to the curriculum. Reflection is encouraged during every step, but this phase allows for a more in-depth process where students tin consider what they've learned and how they feel about the service they provided.

Example of a reflection worksheet for younger grades. Prototype source: Scholastic

Demonstration —Students tin show what they've learned well-nigh the issue to their class, schoolhouse or customs. This is an opportunity to raise sensation of the upshot and what others can do to help.
Commemoration—Students can congratulate themselves and each other for their difficult work and positive contributions.
undefined

There are a number of things you can exercise with your students throughout the program. Below are some ideas you can utilize for each stage of your service learning program.

Preparation: Students can acquire about the issue they are going to tackle using:

Class and small-scale group discussions
Visual brainstorming sessions
Books
Web-based research
News clippings
Infographics
Videos

Activeness: Students tin can serve their communities past taking part in:

Field trips
Research projects
Events
Crafts
Fundraisers
Tutoring sessions
Sensation campaigns
Various service projects (cleaning, building, gardening etc.)

Reflection: Students can reflect on their experiences with:

Grouping discussions
Journal entries
Worksheets
Essays
Blog posts
Videos
Poems or songs
Visual art submissions

Demonstration: Students can demonstrate what they've learned nearly the issue by creating:

Final presentations
Skits
Slideshows
Videos
Infographics
Graphs or charts
Books or portfolios

Celebration: Students tin can celebrate their hard work and success by:

Making give thanks-you cards or gifts for peers and community partners
Being recognized at the side by side schoolhouse associates or on social media
Discussing the touch on their efforts accept made
Having a class pizza party

The possibilities are endless when making a service learning plan, so feel free to get every bit artistic as yous like. Just remember: a successful service learning program allows for cooperative learning and encourages constant communication and reflection.

Perchance the nigh important role of your plan is choosing an actual service projection to have on. Get inspired past the examples below.

Five service learning examples for your classroom

When picking your service learning projection, exist sure to focus on an issue that's relevant to your community. It'south also important to ensure that necessary material can be embedded into your program.

Beneath are 5 examples of projects y'all can use in your course, including some ideas for literature to accompany your lessons. Use them every bit a guide when designing your own plan.

i) Issue: literacy

Activity: Collect books to donate to low income schools or (for older grades) tutor younger students to read. Partner with a local community organisation that supports literacy in youth.

Grooming: Teach students virtually the importance of literacy and the implications of low literacy rates for the private and the community.

Books you lot can apply:

Read Me a Book by Barbara Reid
The Library Carte du jour by Jerry Spinelli

ii) Issue: animal welfare

Action: Collect pet food and toys for animals at your local humane social club, then take a form trip to deliver the items and visit the animals.

Preparation: Teach students about shelters, adoption, rehabilitation and how to prevent fauna cruelty.

Books you lot can use:

Tin I Be Your Dog? By Troy Cummings
Saving Winslow by Sharon Creech

This picture book is written in letters from Arfy the domestic dog, hoping he will persuade someone to adopt him. Great for younger grades to aid them understand the importance of pet adoption.

three) Issue: poverty and hunger

Action: Concur a canned food drive or collect items to make care packages for the homeless. Partner with a local organization that works to gainsay poverty.

Preparation: Teach students nigh hunger and poverty in their community and its negative effects on kid development and health. Talk about what others tin do to help.

Books y'all tin use:

Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan
Maddi's Fridge by Lois Brandt

iv) Event: the environment

Action: Work to ameliorate recycling efforts at schoolhouse. Educate staff and students well-nigh what can and can't be recycled. Make quick reference posters. Collect bins from classrooms.

Preparation: Talk about relevant ecology issues. Talk over the impact waste material has on the earth and means you can help the environment. Teach students the importance of "reduce, reuse, recycle," why recycling is effective and how it benefits the environment.

Books you can utilise:

The Wartville Magician past Don Madden
Me and Marvin Gardens by A. S. King

This volume tells the story of Obe Devlin, a male child who makes an unlikely friendship after his country is taken over by developers. It includes a heartwarming tale while bringing attending to environmental issues. Good for heart grades.

5) Issue: diverseness and inclusion

Action: Take the class plan and host a "celebrate diversity" 24-hour interval at school, to brainwash each other on different cultures or groups and encompass differences among students. Partner with a local arrangement that promotes diverseness and inclusion.

Preparation: Teach students almost inequality. Define and explain the importance of diversity and tolerance. Explore ways students can support variety in their everyday lives.

Books you lot can utilise:

All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Final thoughts on service learning

No affair what project you choose, service learning is a great fashion to accomplish academic goals, promote teamwork and advice and contribute to a positive schoolhouse culture by inspiring students to give back.

You at present accept the necessary tools to bring service learning to your course. Use these ideas to plan a service learning program tailored to your curriculum, and enjoy the awesome results.

Create or log in to your teacher account on Prodigy -- a fun and engaging game-based learning platform that assesses educatee progress and functioning every bit they play. Aligned with curricula across the English-speaking world, it's used past more thana 1000000 teachers and100 million students.