I find the whole concept of service learning to be really interesting. Ormrod (2011) explains that service learning not only helps the students but the outside community as well. I also found on the San Diego Unified School District page a handout of ideas for service learning that included direct and indirect activities along with a section called advocacy, which Ormrod doesn't mention in the text.
I think an example of service learning that I could see using in my future classroom (early childhood) would be having the children create art to take to nursing homes or mail to soldiers overseas. I think this would help the children learn basic writing and drawing skills as well as open doors for conversation with children about different family compositions (like having a parent overseas or having a grandparent in a nursing home). We could also talk about different emotions and abstract concepts like empathy. Those are difficult to explain to young children, but I think with activities like this it could be more real.
I think the students would be so excited to get to show their work to others. Young children typically love to draw pictures to give to loved ones. It would also add an interesting motivation for them to do this drawing work knowing that they would be giving it away to other people. I would really love if the children could each be assigned a different person to make a card for, like a specific person at the nursing home and then be able to go and physically hand it to them themselves.
Some obstacles to this would be that it could be considered not "academic" enough by some principals. It would also be hard to get children physically to the nursing home to deliver the mail. Sending cards overseas to military personnel would be difficult to explain to the children concepts of war. It would also be impossible if our country wasn't in a war.
Personally I love the idea of service learning. I think it is so important to instill in even young children the importance of caring for others not only in our classroom but outside of it too. I can definitely see myself incorporating lots of projects like this for literacy lessons with young children. It provides a purpose to their work that writing an imaginary letter on a worksheet would not.
References
Ormrod, J. E. Educational psychology: Developing Learners. (7th ed.)
San Diego Unified School District (2010). Learn and Serve San Diego: A service learning handbook for elementary teachers. http://www.sandi.net/cms/lib/CA01001235/Centricity/Domain/62/Current%20CRD%20Web%20Docs/Elementary%20Handbook%20Revised%20July%2010.pdf
Thanks for sharing that resource! I think it provides lots of interesting examples of ways teachers can initiate service learning projects in their classroom; I liked the math example of clipping coupons for seniors. Not only are the children engaging in a project that is helpful to the community, they are also learning skills relevant to their own lives. Further, I like how you pointed out how the literacy activities you suggested give children's work a purpose! I feel that too often children are given busy work or worksheets, which I do not think is as beneficial to their learning as projects like these!
ReplyDelete