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One of the things that make service learning so valuable to students and to the community is that students are addressing an authentic community need. Through the process of identifying this need, students learn they are part of a larger community and that their responsibility as an active citizen is to try to improve that community. When students learn that they can make a real difference, it can be very empowering for them.
What practitioners can do:
- Determine how you will define "community" for this service learning project. Your community could be your school, neighborhood, city, or a larger area such as a state, nation, or the world. All of these "communities" have authentic needs. Your definition may be dictated by your class population or by the transportation options your students will have.
- Determine whether you will provide a list of community needs from which students can choose, if students will be required to reach consensus on a select number of needs, or if individuals or student groups can create their own list. At this point in the process, it's usually important not to restrict or eliminate any student suggestions.
- Brainstorm with students about ways they can learn about the needs of their community. Ideas include observation, newspapers, television news, interviews with family members or community leadership, discussions with experts, statistical research at the local library or Chamber of Commerce, and field trips.
- Invite representatives from community organizations to address your students about their organizations' challenges.
What students can do:
- Brainstorm how they can learn about the needs of their community. See ideas above.
- Brainstorm different categories in which natural needs may fall. Categories may include education, crime, social problems, economy, health, safety, recreation, cleanliness, and the environment.
- List what they already know about their community, and what they'd like to learn more about. The latter list may relate to the interests they identified during the Self-Assessment.
- Survey others in the community to learn different points of view about community needs. Community needs aren't necessarily based solely on statistics.
- Complete the Student Service Log
Ideas for Reflection: Have students list what they think their responsibilities are as part of a community. How do their answers relate to the problems and needs they've uncovered? What would happen if no one cared enough to address these problems?
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Student worksheets are available for Steps 1-5.
Click here
to download them. |
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