Service Learning Project

Service Learning Experience

• Assignment: we had to give presentations to students at David Crockett Elementary School
• My partner was Melodie Grant.

David Crockett Elementary Info

• The school has several partners: UMOM, Educare, and Mindfulness First.
• It is in Balsz District.

David Crockett Elementary Partners

• Mindfulness First strives to create a safe and healthy learning environment for all students.
• UMOM is an organization that dedicates its time to helping homeless families.
• Educare strives to offer underprivileged children the chance to receive a proper education.

Project

• Melodie and I had to tell the stories of our paths to college.
• We needed an activity to tie in with our presentation.

Creation Process

• We set up a time to meet and discuss the project.
• For our presentation, we decided to create a slideshow using Google Slides.
• Based off of our stories and activity, we chose an overall topic to focus on.

Our Topic

• How does one decide on a goal, and what steps can they take to achieve them?

Activity

• Activity: we had the students get into groups of three or four
• Each group was to create a poster listing their hobbies, interests, and any goals they might have for the future.
• I brought the markers.
• Melodie brought the posters.

Purpose of Activity

• In doing this activity, the students were to see how their interests and hobbies at present could possibly help them develop skills for achieving their goals in the future.

Difficulties Along the Way

• Melodie and I have different schedules
• We did not have a lot of chances to work together physically.
• We stayed in contact mostly through text (which I am not used to in group projects).
• If we had to, we made sure to make time and meet to discuss overall plans, or check up on one another.

More Difficulties

• I had trouble deciding on a format for my story slides.
• What I originally created did not make the final cut in our presentation due the amount of time we had to speak.
• I ended up having to scrap my first slides and create new ones.
• It turned out to be beneficial in the end.

Presentation Delivery

• Overall, I was pleased with our delivery.
• We had some technical difficulties at the beginning.
• We were able to work around them and get across all information we had hoped to.
• The fifth graders listened really well, and participated excellently with the activity.

The Takeaway

• I really enjoyed participating in the service learning project.
• Overall all, the main points I took away had to do with three key figures
• Leadership, Diversity, and Communication

Leadership:
"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way."
- John Maxwell (2012)

Leadership Takeaway

• The information and stories we present have an impact on those we tell them to.
• For those thirty minutes, we acted as mentors.

Leadership Takeaway Cont'd...

• Teaching others about our own experiences can provide them with valuable lessons.
• Hopefully, our stories will inspire the fifth graders to reach for the future and achieve their goals.

Leadership Takeaway Cont'd

• "Success in the educational process is often accompanied from help by caring adults in the lives of young people." (Elder, Erickson & McDonald, 2009)

Diversity:
"Diversity... is... the key condition for a lively and dynamic world as we see today"
- Jintao Hu (2014)

Diversity Takeaway

• We got to learn about and meet people from a different walk of life.
• 30% of the students at the school are from U-MOM.
• Before this experience, I was not aware of people from this particular background.
• It is even more prevalent than that throughout our society.

Diversity Takeaway Cont'd...

• As it turns out, in 2014: 17,558 homeless were counted in Arizona.
• 40% of the homeless account for families (many, single mothers with children).
• "Homelessness puts children at risk of poor early development and educational well-being" (Lopez, 2016)

Diversity Takeaway Cont'd...

• Not enough people are aware of these numbers.
• The only teachings on diversity that I have heard account for ethnicity.
• I am glad we came to this school in particular because of this.

Diversity Takeaway Cont'd

• We were able to show these children how they could work hard and get through any circumstance so that they may achieve whatever dreams they have.

Communication:
"Communication leads to community, that is, to understand, intimacy, and mutual valuing."
- Rollo May (n.d.)

Communication Takeaway

• Communication between us as college students and the fifth graders holds great importance.
• Someday, they will have to face what we are facing.
• We were able to give them an experience different from the average lesson they would have in their everyday school-life.

Communication Takeaway Cont'd

• Student-to-Student interaction rather than Teach-to-Student gave us an equal ground to stand on.
• We pulled insight from our own stories and made ourselves examples of paths they might possibly take when they get older.

Communication Takeaway Cont'd

• "... experiences are passed on from one generation to another.... it is sure that they can play the role of impacting any present image, to a more or less extent." (Bratu, 2014).

Reflection

• Ultimately, I feel this was an important experience to have.
• It took us out of our comfort zones by allowing us to give a presentation in an environment we were not used to.
• It also allowed us to see the impact that we could have on others.

Thoughts on Service Learning

• It is beneficial to one's academic life.
• Its most beneficial factor is pedagogy.
• "Pedagogy is centered on engaged teaching, that is, connecting structured student activities in community work with academic study, decentering the teacher as the singular source of knowledge," (Saltmarsh & Zlotkowski, 2011)

In Conclusion

• I was nervous about it at first, but it turned out to be fun.
• Future honors students should be required to do this because it really is different from giving an average presentation.
• It will give them an experience they cannot have in the classroom, and I am sure they will find it enjoyable as well.

Research References

• Bratu, S. (2014). The importance of communication in the production of social representations. Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice, 6(1), 650+. Retrieved from http://ezlib.gatewaycc.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.ezlib.gatewayc...
• Erickson, L. D., McDonald, S., & Elder, G. H.. (2009). Informal Mentors and Education: Complementary or Compensatory Resources?. Sociology of Education, 82(4), 344–367. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40376056
• Lopez, G. (2016, May 4). Early Childhood Homelessness in the United States | UMOM New Day Centers. Retrieved from https://www.umom.org/blog/early-childhood-homelessness-in-the-united-states...
• Phoenix Rescue Mission. (2016). Homelessness in the valley of the sun. Retrieved from http://phoenixrescuemission.org/homelessness/?a=r&utm_expid=93160202-6.8fGq...
• Saltmarsh, J. A., & Zlotkowski, E. A. (2011). Indicators of Engagement. In Higher education and democracy: Essays on service-learning and civic engagement (p. 288). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Citations for Quotes in Takeaway

• Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing. - Rollo May at BrainyQuote. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/rollomay389414.html
• Kevin, K. (2014, October 16). Forbes Welcome. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/10/16/quotes-on-leadership/#519...
• Ni, P. (2014, January 20). 12 Empowering and Uplifting Quotes on Diversity & Inclusion | Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/communication-success/201401/12-empowe...