DESIGNING A SERVICE-LEARNING PROGRAM

Planning and PreparationService Activities

ReflectionDemonstration/Celebration

Assessment

Seven Best Practices for Service-Learning

• Meet a recognized need in the community• Achieve curricular objectives through service-learning• Reflect through the service-learning experience• Develop student responsibility• Establish community partnerships• Plan ahead for service-learning• Equip students with knowledge and skills needed for

service(from State of Maryland’s “Seven Best Practices for

Service-Learning.”)

Planning and Preparation

• Identify the community to serve• Assess community needs• Teachers and students collaborate with

community partners in planning and preparation

• Select a community need for service-learning project (based on urgency, importance, student interest, etc.)

Planning and Preparation (2)

• Identify academic, civic, and other learning goals

• Develop a plan to assess student learning

Questions Related to Planning Process

• What is the overall purpose of the project?• What impact do you hope it will have on

students and the communities they serve?• How will you facilitate student choice of the

community they want to serve?• What activities and resources will you provide

to assist students in assessing community needs?

Questions Related to Planning Process (2)

• How will you use the criteria of relevance to academic learning, urgency, importance, and interest value to help students select the problem for their project?

• What content standards and benchmarks will working on this problem allow students to meet?

• What civic goals will the project address?

Questions Related to Planning Process (3)

• What other learning do you hope students will gain from the project?

• How do you plan to diagnose students’ readiness for the project?

• How do you plan to assess student progress during the course of the project (formative evaluation)?

• How will the final (summative) evaluation be conducted?

Getting Started

• How will you help the student identify a community problem?

• How will you help students develop investigation or research skills?

• How will you come to consensus on one or two community problems to address?

• How will you ensure that the project has a link to curricular objectives, urgency and

importance, student interest and engagement?

Establishing a Baseline

• Baseline information documents the problem• It should be quantifiable to assess impact of

project (as it proceeds and as it ends)• Baseline statement should include sources of

evidence• Pre-testing students establishes a baseline for

their progress in doing the project

Administrative Tasks

• Scheduling the Service-Learning Experiences• Obtaining parent permission and involvement• Gaining administrator permission and support• Arranging for transportation• Determining material and equipment needs• Managing potential risks(For each task, make a list of challenges,

resources, and strategies.)

Guiding Questions

• What questions related to the project should students try to answer through library and Internet research?

• What service-learning activity will be undertaken.

• How does this activity address the areas of impact you hope it will have on the student and the community?

Guiding Questions (2)

• How will you and the student decide on the type of service to be provided and the division of labor needed to implement the project?

• What content standards and benchmarks will be met as students plan and provide the service activities?

• What civic goals will the project address?• What civic knowledge and skills will be

acquired?

Guiding Questions (3)

• What other learning do you hope students will gain from the project?

• How can you ensure that the community partners are part of the vision, planning, and preparation phases?

• How will you assess the students’ readiness for the project?

• How will you weave reflection activities into the service-learning project?

• What type of assessment will you use to determine progress toward meeting specific goals?

Conducting the Service Activity

• Students should be engaged, actively exploring, using inquiry and hands-on approaches.

• Students should be given opportunities to work with an adult other than a family member or a teacher.

• Students should be given the opportunity to see that the service is genuinely meeting community needs.

Possible Service-Learning Activities

• Tutoring/mentoring younger children• Teaching elderly and other non-student

population to use the computer and Internet• Gardening (planting crops and flowers)• Cleaning up the environment (roads, parks,

community facilities, etc.)• Painting and decorating in public facilities.• Recycling projects

Service-Learning Activities (2)

• Visits to the elderly and disabled to read to them, help them write letters or use email, etc.

• Oral history projects• Research projects on Palestinian history,

heritage, and culture—including participation in neighborhood discussion groups

• Food and clothing collections for the needy• Healthy living activities (proper diet; anti-drugs)

Service-Learning Activities (3)

• Students should be trained so they know how to conduct the service they plan to perform, and know what is expected of them.

• All students involved in the project should have meaningful roles to play.

• Students should be given guidance on how to work well together in performing group tasks.

• The community partner should understand and support all activities.

Service-Learning Activities (4)

• Students should engage in trouble-shooting conversations ahead of time, so they know how to respond to specific types of problems.

• Transportation should be arranged as needed.• Needed material and supplies should be

secured. There should be sufficient adult supervisors

• All safety and other risk protections should be in place.

Service-Learning Activities (5)

• Parental permission forms should be obtained.• Permission for photos and publications should be

obtained.• The media should be invited if appropriate.• Reflection activities to take place during the

service project should be planned.• Explicit links to the curriculum should be made.• Administrators should be aware of and supportive

of the activity.

Reflection

• All phases of service-learning should have a reflection component.

• Students should keep a reflective journal of their service-learning activities and use it for class discussion.

• Students should create a storyboard to tell the story that is unfolding, reflecting on the planning and specific action steps and their results.

• Students should identify what they liked, what they did not like, and what they would change.

Reflection (2)

• Students should connect classroom learning with learning from service.

• Older students may reflect on the causes and solution of social problems.

• Reflection should improve student problem-solving skills.

• Students should develop a deeper understanding of themselves and their responsibilities as citizens.

Guiding Questions

• What reflection activities could you use to support the academic, civic, social-emotional learning goals of the service-learning project before, during, and after completion?

• What reflection prompts (questions) before, during, and at the end of the project would encourage your students to go beyond simply describing or reporting their experiences?

• How could you make reflection more collaborative among your students?

Demonstration/Celebration

• Students have a public forum to show how they impacted the community and how they themselves have changed as a result of their service-learning activities.

• Demonstration and celebration events recognize and reward students and enhance their motivation to serve.

• These events reinforce community members’ commitments to your program

Possible Demonstration and Celebration Events

• Recognition at a school-wide ceremony, including a traditional ceremony like graduation

• Awards• Letters of recognition from community partners• Service credits on student diplomas• Development of products such as Power Points,

oral presentations, websites, videos, booklets, testimonials by service recipients.

• Sharing insights through issues forums.

Guiding Questions

• Who should plan the demonstration and celebration and what roles will each participant have?

• What activities would be most meaningful for your students and community partners, and why?

• How can the demonstration relate to the academic goals of the project?

Guiding Questions (2)

• How could the demonstrations be used as summative assessment, and who would evaluate student performance and with what criteria?

• Which options for planning would contribute most to your students’ civic and socio-emotional learning?

• Which options would contribute most to the community?

• How will you evaluate the success of the demonstration and celebration events and engage in continuous improvement?

Assessment

(from Service-Learning: Student’s Guide and Journal) – student self-reporting questionnaire

“Charting My Progress”I am on target to successfully accomplish the

service-learning project0% 50% 100%My leadership skills are improving0% 50% 100%

Assessment (2)

My communication skills are improving0% 50% 100%I feel good about the direction my life is going0% 50% 100%I find school to be meaningful0% 50% 100%My grades are improving0% 50% 100%

Assessment (3)

I get along well with my parents0% 50% 100%I get along well with my friends0% 50% 100%

Assessment (4)(from Louisiana State University Center for Academic Success) – student self-

reporting questionnaire)

Student Assessment of Service-Learning FormA=excellent, B=good, C=fair, D=poor1. Overall, how would you rate your service-learning experience? ABCD Comments: The best part of my service experience was….2. Were goals for the service-learning activities and grading procedures for those activities clearly defined by your instructor? ABCD3. Were sufficient opportunities to apply practical service-learning to academic concepts provided through journals, reports, discussions or other assignments ABCD Comments: What types of

assignments helped you to learning from your service experience?

Assessment (5)4. How helpful was the staff at your service site in helping you fulfill Course goals? ABCDComments: What could this agency do to improve the serviceexperience for future students?5. Did your agency provide adequate orientation or training and Supervision? Comments: ABCD6. How meaningful were tasks you performed for the agency? ABCDComments: What tasks did you perform most often?7. Did you receive sufficient assistance in performing your service and preparing your project? ABCDComments: What types of assistance are most needed?8. Do you think service-learning experiences should be required for all students? Comments: ABCD

Assessment (6)

• In instructor assessment of student, determine what you will assess and how you will assess it.

• Considering developing pre-tests as a baseline for the project, and post-tests at the end of the project.

• Do formative evaluations during the course of the project to determine how things are going and what adjustments need to be made.

• Do a summative evaluation to determine the degree of success in the project.

Assessment (7)• Assess content of student journals for description and reflection of

service work.• Evaluate quality of student demonstration (oral presentation, posters,

storyboard)• Get evaluation of student work from community field supervisor

(prepare questionnaire for evaluation)• Do an interview with student to determine the depth of the student's

understanding related to the work that has been undertaken• Have students do peer evaluations of one another• If the student has been engaged in a problem-solving activity, do an

evaluation of the student's thinking process and final product.