ServiceLearning Program Planning

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Service-Learning Program Planning

• Shelley H. Billig, Ph.D.
• RMC Research Corporation
• July 2008

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Agenda

• Components
• Underlying philosophy
• Planning each step
• Q and A

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Components

• Investigation
• Planning
• Action
• Reflection
• Demonstration
• Celebration

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Underlying Philosophy

• Start with the end in mind.
• What outcomes do you want to reach?
• Academic?
• Social-emotional/character?
• Civic?
• Career Exploration?
• Cross cutting theme like problem solving or
  inferential comprehension?

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Planning Each Step

• If possible, plan at least portions of each step
  before you start.
• Steps address each component, but many have
  multiple parts.

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Investigation

• Conducting a community needs assessment
• Choosing a meaningful problem
• Researching possible solutions

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Community Needs Assessment

• What problems does the community face?
• Ideas for identifying problems include
• Community mapping
• Student brainstorming and finding evidence
• Internet research
• Bringing in community organizations to speak

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Investigating the Problem

• Need to establish evidence that a need exists.
• Ideas include
• Conducting a community survey
• Interviewing community members
• Documenting the problem (e.g., counting how many
  teens dont wear seat belts how many visits to
  health clinics, etc.)

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Establish a Baseline

• Show the magnitude of the problem in measurable
  terms, if possible.
• E.g., 50 of teens dont wear seat belts
• 40 of teens seek help for STDs
• Only 2 seniors in the assisted living units know
  how to use e-mail
• Cafeteria waste averages 25 lbs a week

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Decide What Service Will Be Undertaken

• Brainstorm solutions
• Ideas include
• Share research on solutions found on the Internet
  or through the community surveys
• Interview potential community partners

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Be Sure

• to include sufficient student voice
• that the project is meaningful
• that you can reach whatever goals you set
• you have a shared vision with partners
• you have dealt well with consensus
• you reflect on the process

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Planning

• Identify the content standards you will address
• Develop a project management chart or other
  organizational scheme
• Set goals how will you know you are successful?
• Develop an assessment if you have additional
  goals (e.g., developing responsibility, ethic of
  service, problem solving skills, etc.)

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Make sure planning has

• Youth voice
• Meaningful participation of youth
• Collaboration with partners
• Service with sufficient intensity and duration
• Appropriate training
• Appropriate resources such as transportation
• Appropriate precautions, such as safety
  precautions and parent permissions
• Contingency plans for what could go wrong.

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Action

• Be sure the service includes
• Authentic learning
• Active exploration
• Adult connections
• Applied learning
• Academic rigor
• Assessment to document outcomes

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Reflection

• Encourage youth to
• Connect to classroom learning
• Question their preconceptions about social
  problems and those different from themselves
• Improve their problem solving skills
• Respect diversity in its many forms
• See their place in the larger societal context
• Develop a deeper understanding of themselves
• See themselves as having agency or efficacy

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Options for Reflection Assignments

• Prompts facts, quotes, diaries, music
• Mode reading, writing, doing, art, telling
• Length short, journal assignments, essays,
  storyboards
• Authors student student-peer community
  partner service recipient
• Audience teachers, peers, service recipient
• Criteria for evaluation relationship to goals
  academic quality of presentation or work

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Demonstration/Celebration

• Demonstration of learning
• Demonstration of impact on community
• Demonstration of impact on self
• Celebration of impact
• Best if demonstration is in a public forum with
  influential people

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Resources

• K-12 Service-Learning Project Planning Toolkit
  (RMC Research - soon to be updated)
• Northwest Educational Laboratory Planning Toolkit
• Connecting Thinking and Action Reflection Ideas
  (RMC Research)
• Complete Guide to Service-Learning (Cathy Berger
  Kaye)
• National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
  www.servicelearning.org