how to create a service learning course for high schoolers

by Shaniya Mertz Sr. 3 min read

Prepare a draft syllabus detailing rationale for service-learning, students’ roles and responsibilities, how the service experience will be assessed, readings, course materials, and reflection activities. Visit the community partner to discuss the draft syllabus. Based on community partner input, revise the syllabus as needed.

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What makes a good service-learning course?

Service-learning can add a degree of unpredictability to a course, so it is good to build your course in a way that allows for shifting learning needs and circumstances (Howard, 2001). Consider the factors discussed in this section when planning a service-learning course. 16 17 Working with a Community Partner

How do you start a service learning project?

Be Inspired by a Local Charity Another great way to develop a service learning project is to look within your community for inspiration. In my case, my students wanted to help out a wonderful local charity called Rainbow Village, a shelter for homeless mothers and children getting back on their feet.

Where does service-learning take place in schools?

Principals in schools that implement service-learning reported that service-learning was most likely to take place in social studies (52 percent), science (42 percent), and English/language arts (34 percent). 35 Examples of service-learning embedded within different subjects follow:

How do you ensure your students are prepared for service-learning?

organization site both before the service-learning experience begins and while your students are there to gain firsthand knowledge of the situations and conditions under which they will serve and learn. communication with both your • Supervision. Ensure that your students will have adequate

How do you create a service-learning program?

These steps include brainstorming, focusing, implementing, evaluation and reflecting.Brainstorm. To start a service-learning unit in your classroom first look at your community. ... Focus. Next, examine each idea. ... Implement. ... Evaluation. ... Reflection. ... The Best Service-Learning Programs:

What are the 5 stages of service-learning?

The service-learning process takes students through the stages of Investigation, Preparation, Action, Reflection, Demonstration and Evaluation.

What are the 3 components of service-learning?

These three elements are:A collaborative partnership between the college and the community. We believe that “collaborative” is a key word. ... Applying academic knowledge and critical thinking skills. ... Reflection and assessment leading to greater understanding of course content and civic engagement.

What are 4 types of service-learning?

This list gives an overview of the different types of service learning while providing a sense of how you can use the methodology with your students.Direct Service Learning. ... Indirect Service Learning. ... Research-Based Service Learning. ... Advocacy Service Learning.

What is an example of a service-learning project?

Students can help local organizations maximize their financial processes, prepare taxes, perform audits, etc. Students can assist local schools in creating art programs or sustaining art programs.

What are some examples of service-learning?

Service Learning involves almost any helping activity. We generally refer to direct service to individuals, indirect service to people, and advocacy work. Direct service includes tutoring, serving meals, working with patients, helping a refugee family, walking foster dogs, or participating in events at a nursing home.

What are the 4 key elements of service-learning?

Key Components of Service-LearningPreparation. ... Action. ... Reflection. ... Self - What are you feeling? ... Other - Whom did you serve? ... World - What new questions do you have of your world? ... Assessment: ... Assessment of Assets and Needs (before service)More items...

What is the core component of service-learning?

Genuine Community Needs: Service-learning, to be meaningful, must be an activity that “addresses” a genuine community need, such that youths see the community as a better place and understand that reciprocal learning will take place.

What is a service-learning course?

Service-learning is an experiential learning pedagogy that moves students beyond the classroom to become active participants in their learning and develop civic knowledge and skills.

What is a good service-learning project?

Purchase or write a children's reading book and read to and give away books to children in hospitals. Make "I Care" Kits for the homeless shelters in your area. Hold a clothing drive and deliver items to homeless shelters. Prepare food and serve at a homeless shelter.

What is the difference between community service and service-learning?

Service learning focuses on the learning of the service volunteer. Community service is more focused on the outcome for the community measured by the amount of time or work provided.

What are the five team positions found in the structured teamwork of service-learning?

Facilitator, Recorder, Reporter, Timekeeper, and Debriefer. to record reflections, experiences, observations, goals, etc. Community service is dispensed by a judge as punishment for law breaking. Service learning addresses essential needs in a community and the projects are self-directed.

How is service learning incorporated into a course?

In higher education, service learning programs are incorporated into a course or a series of courses by combining learning and community engagement. According to Vanderbilt University, community engagement amongst students improves institutional commitment to the curriculum, improves student retention and enhances community relations.

What is service learning?

According to the National Service Learning Clearinghouse (we’ll talk about them later), service learning is “a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. ”.

What is Barb Witteman's service learning?

In 2018, Barb Witteman from Concordia College, in Moorhead Minn won a National Service Learning Award for being an inspiration in the field of service learning amongst students, and through her example, she’s even encouraged students to take up a life of service. Among many examples, Social Work Degree students had a study of food insecurity, which grew into a program where the college students taught literacy and numeracy skills rooted in packing and delivering dried beans to a food pantry. Since the program, a former student, who is now a farmer, has donated over 1,500 pounds of beans to this food pantry in one year. Around this same issue, Witteman developed a freshman service learning program that pairs college students with 4th graders to present on hunger issues at schools, grocery stores and city commission meeting. Out of this, resulted another need where through this project, more than 8000 students were eligible to receive birthday bags consisting of handmade cards, cake mix and frosting. And of course, all these projects are tied to their academic courses.

What does "community service" mean?

In simpler words, it means using academic knowledge through community service to address a community need AND reflect on it to enhance the volunteer’s experience and the community in the long term.

Make service-learning projects easy and sustainable

We know that not every school has a dedicated service-learning leader. And not every one of us has the time to create and produce a large-scale project. Keeping projects small and manageable is a great way for students to get involved and ensure that a project is sustainable.

Include all students in service-learning projects

Denise Griffin teaches at Southmoore High School, a rural high school in Moore, Oklahoma. Her students have severe multiple disabilities.

Work with organizations in your community

When service-learning projects work in conjunction with local organizations, students learn to engage with the people where they live. They learn about not only serving others but also addressing needs in their own communities.

Integrate service-learning projects into lessons

Tiffany Searles is the Director of Community Engagement and Communications at New Foundations Charter School, a K-13 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

What does a service-learning program entail?

A service-learning program starts before you even leave home. Two weeks before you leave, you will complete assignments and activities that get you geared up to go.

What types of service-learning opportunities are there?

It’s important to pick a service-learning program that matches your current interests and goals for the future. The more invested you are in the topic, the more you will get out of the experience.

Why do we do service learning trips?

Getting involved in a service-learning trip means you’re more likely to understand concepts better, since every theoretical learning experience is paired with a real-world experience.

What is the opportunity to learn from people around the world?

The opportunity to get to know and learn from people from communities around the world means that you’ll get the chance to become a global citizen. Now that you know what service-learning trips have to offer, and how you can get involved, you can start planning for a brighter future.

What are the principles of good practice for service learning?

As service-learning becomes more prevalent throughout the formal academic curriculum, service-learning faculty and administrators have deemed it necessary to augment the original Principles of Good Practice. The Johnson Foundation/Wingspread Principles, while applicable to service-learning courses, are primarily focused on non-curricular community service programs. The Principles of Good Practice in Community Service-Learning Pedagogy, prepared by Jeffrey Howard of the University of Michigan, offers a set of principles that, if followed, insure full integration of students service experiences and course learning.

What is a service learning portfolio?

Some service-learning portfolios consist of other reflection elements, such as a journal, a paper or presentation. They can also hold artifacts from the service project, such as pictures, brochures, as well as additional items which might relate to the service project and the course, such as newspaper clippings, articles, etc. As a practical tool, portfolios can further serve as an organizer for the various documentation for the service-learning experience, such as the time-sheet, handbook, service-learning agreement, and training materials. Both faculty and students can be very creative with the portfolio concept and find many ways to use it.

What is service experience?

Students write about their service experience in relation to assigned course readings. The questions you formulate for their responses can be open-ended or pointed in helping students think critically about the academic material in a real-world context. This activity can be particularly valuable when the readings incorporate the similar issues as those being confronted by the service agencies and projects engaging the students.

What is service learning?

Service-learning is a fantastic pedagogie to use in the classroom to create student engagement and facilitate student’s personal growth. Service-learning projects enable students to connect what is being learned in the classroom with practical experience with the community. Not only does this give students a different insight into their lives, ...

Why is service learning important?

Service-learning projects are not only beneficial for student’s personal growth they help the community by meeting verified needs through various types of action (direct, indirect, advocacy, research). It is so versatile that service learning projects can be implemented across several different subjects and grades.

How do students develop passion?

Students develop passion through being involved in service learning projects that they are interested in. Providing students with agency-voice and choice of what project they would like to be involved with the community generates enthusiasm and engagement.

How many stages of service learning are there?

These different learning objectives are built into the five stages of service-learning, which include:

What is a transdisciplinary learning?

Demonstration/Communication (trans-disciplinary) – Learners recognize that through demonstration and communication they solidify their understanding and evoke a response from others.

How does Tara work at SL?

Tara brings passion and a deep understanding of service learning, rooted in years of experience, to her training. Her training builds bridges from theory to implementation while generously sharing her resources and knowledge to ensure our success. Tara works with the whole school (administration, teachers, students, and SL leaders) to build a sustainable program that is embedded in the curriculum and tied to the mission. She energized a faculty on a Friday afternoon, no easy feat, leaving them with a desire to learn more about SL and to become more involved. I cannot recommend Tara highly enough.

1. Hold a Silent Auction

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer 25 years ago, and it was a life-changing event for my family. I recall sitting in the doctor’s office hearing the words, “You have cancer.” I knew then I would spend my life doing what I could to help educate about and eradicate this illness.

2. Create an Empty Bowls Event

According to the website, Empty bowls is “…an international grassroots effort to raise both money and awareness in the fight to end hunger.” There are many different ways to go about holding an Empty Bowls fundraiser. To get started, check out the five different ideas in the download below!

3. Be Inspired by a Local Charity

Another great way to develop a service learning project is to look within your community for inspiration.

4. Develop a Recurring Holiday Event

I’ve found running an event around the holidays is always successful. And, as much as students love to paint large, they also love to paint small!

How can service enhance academic learning?

Generally there are two ways the integration of service can enhance learning: 1) by complementing more traditional classroom- and book- based pedagogies (e.g., students improving their Spanish-speaking abilities by serving in a Latino/Latina community organization), or 2) by enabling learning possibilities precluded in more traditional pedagogies (the same students learning about Latino/Latina culture as a complement to their language learning). designing the service experience and accompanying coursework to enhance the students’ academic learning in one or both ways and should communicate these provisions to the community partner during the planning stage.

What is a service learning community partner?

A service-learning community partner can be 1) any nonprofit or public sector organization, agency, or institution, or 2) a private sector business or establishment that is underserved in the traditional market economy. 4. Structured reflection by the students in light of intended academic and civic learning outcomes.

What is reflection in service learning?

Reflection can be used as a form of assessment of academic and civic learning outcomes in service-learning.

What is civic learning?

Civic learning involves personalizing the learning experience in light of each student’s role as a citizen, scholar, or professional. The civic knowledge, skills, values, or propensities to be advanced through the service-learning should be determined by the instructor and reflected in the student learning outcomes and course content. Civic learning can range in intensity from a general focus on responsible citizenship (e.g., democratic preparedness or professional ethics) to an emphasis on change- making (e.g., political or social action).

What is experience learning?

The goal of Experience Learning is to transform the educational experience for undergraduate and graduate students at UT, giving students more opportunities to be involved in civic engagement, solve complex real-world problems, and contribute to the welfare of their communities as part of their regular coursework. To find out more about Experience Learning and the programs and resources available to service-learning faculty, visit

What is TLI in teaching?

This guide and online accompanying workbook was created by Teaching and Learning Innovation (TLI), an instructor-support unit within the Division of Academic Affairs. TLI houses the service-learning initiative at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They are a resource for faculty members, staff instructors, and graduate teaching assistants interested in offering a service-learning course at UT.

An Example Service Learning Course

Dr. Blosser teaches PHL 2043 Business Ethics, which fulfills the university’s general education requirement in ethics. This course is much more than memorizing ethical theories.

Regularly Occurring Service Learning Courses

COM 3385 SL Research Methods The class does research on behalf of local non-profits. In the past they have worked with the High Point Arts Council.

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Definition of Service Learning

Service Learning Project Ideas

  • To help you remember the difference between community service and service learning, here is an example from WeAreTeachers: Community Service:If students remove trash from a streambed, they are providing a service to the community as volunteers Service-Learning:When students remove trash from a streambed they: 1. Analyzewhat they found 2. Share the ...
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Should You Use Technology to Implement Service Learning

  • We work with some large universities, like Stanford University and John Hopkins University, as well as some smaller schools, like The Academy for Classical Education, that used to track their service learning hours by excel spreadsheets, or even worse - pen and paper! Sure, some may say that spending a few hours a week manually inputting and sorting through data isn’t that bad. Ho…
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Service Learning Resources Available on The Web

  • There are many service learning resources available to all. Our favorites include: Campus Compact Learn and Serve America: Corporation for National and Community Service National Service-Learning Clearinghouse Service LearningBooks Service Learning Videos Teaching Through Civic Engagement - Barbara Jacoby Liberating Service Learning - Randy Stoecker Servic…
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Make Service-Learning Projects Easy and Sustainable

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We know that not every school has a dedicated service-learning leader. And not every one of us has the time to create and produce a large-scale project. Keeping projects small and manageable is a great way for students to get involved and ensure that a project is sustainable. “The goal of service-learning is to get student…
See more on weareteachers.com

Include All Students in Service-Learning Projects

  • Denise Griffin teaches at Southmoore High School, a rural high school in Moore, Oklahoma. Her students have severe multiple disabilities. “Service-learning allows students to feel connected to their communities and encourages a sense of self-worth and value. This is especially important in teens,” Griffin says. “Also, self-awareness and self-advoca...
See more on weareteachers.com

Work with Organizations in Your Community

  • When service-learning projects work in conjunction with local organizations, students learn to engage with the people where they live. They learn about not only serving others but also addressing needs in their own communities. Jen Denzin teaches English and psychology at Saline High School, a suburban school in Saline, Michigan. The service-learning project she organized …
See more on weareteachers.com

Integrate Service-Learning Projects Into Lessons

  • Tiffany Searles is the Director of Community Engagement and Communications at New Foundations Charter School, a K-13 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “Student disengagement and drop out is often fueled by the lack of connection of what students are learning in the classroom to what they need to know in their lives outside of the classroom,” Searles says. “The integration …
See more on weareteachers.com

What Is Service-Learning?

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Have you ever felt like you don’t really understand the point of a certain subject at school? Maybe you can’t make sense of why you need to memorise work from a textbook when it doesn’t all seem to apply to real-life? Well, service-learning is a different type of education that will push you beyond the walls of a classroom, an…
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What Types of Service-Learning Opportunities Are there?

  • It’s important to pick a service-learning program that matches your current interests and goals for the future. The more invested you are in the topic, the more you will get out of the experience. Our service-learning programs cover a range of fields – including marine conservation, wildlife conservation, and community development. This makes it easy to find something that suits you…
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What Does A Service-Learning Program Entail?

  • A service-learning program starts before you even leave home. Two weeks before you leave, you will complete assignments and activities that get you geared up to go. Once in the country, your service-learning experience will consist of working in the field during the week, with free time over the weekends. The activities that you get involved in will depend on your destination and focus, …
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What Types of Adventure Activities Do Service-Learning Trips offer?

  • From chopping up bok choy in a local cooking class, to canoeing along a rainforest river, there’s no limit to the types of adventurous activities that you could get involved in on a service-learning trip. Some of these adventure activities are part of the service-learning experience – like exploring the forested terrain of Thailand while contributing towards conservation efforts – while others a…
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How Can A Service-Learning Trip Benefit Me in The Future?

  • The idea behind our service-learning programs is to inspire a lifetime of learning, exploring, and getting involved in global issues in a positive way. This type of experience can make your goals for the future clearer, motivate you to study further, and help you to gain skills that will come in handy in college, your career, and your everyday life. Service-learning is the start of your engage…
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