I
think the perfect fit for service learning is working with K-12 students and
teachers. It’s a total win-win for
everyone. From what I have seen do far,
students win by participating in engaging activities where they practice what
they have learned and also learn new
ideas by collaborating with peers and experts. It’s not always easy in service learning, there'll be bumps in the road, but the
work being done is applying learning rather than doing book learning – sitting in a
class and talking about it. Seriously,
think back when you got your driver’s license.
What was more engaging and required more of your attention … sitting the
in class talking about the rules and behaviors of driving or actually sitting
behind the wheel and driving down the street.
See what I mean. :-)
In
my mind I see a K-12 class partnering with a SLO to complete a campus/community project. The SLO would supply the materials, since
schools are short funded, and the students supply the labor. The teacher assembles the lesson plan, based
on Standards that apply to the content studied in class and the work being
accomplished by the students. The scope of work determines variables like work
schedules, transportation, insurance, feeding the students, and so forth. This scenario seems to be a perfect press and
district office opportunity to promote what is “’right” about education today. Do you agree?
An
important question, how will success measured? For the K-12 class
there is 1) the assessment they will take in class, 2) the results of
the project, and 3) the life skills they develop. But, I'm not clear
how a service learning organization (SLO) measures their success. When
I worked at Fortune 500 companies the measure was based on a couple of
factors: 1) budget, 2) customer satisfaction, 3) schedule compliance,
and 4) internal controls. SLO’s are large organizations so
they must have some similar measures: 1) the amount of work
accomplished in a
certain time, 2) amount of volunteers provided during a project or time
period, 3) amount of money donated compared to funds raised? Or,
is it that funding drives decision making to determine what work an SLO
performs with volunteers or where they perform their work? If you understand how a SLO measures success please let me know.
In the mean time, SLO’s,
if you are interested in this type of partnership let me know. I am interested in it for my classes. I also
think it’s worth promoting to teachers and administrators in my newsletter.
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