Monday, October 28, 2013
In the Service of What?
First off, I would just like to build on what Kahne and Westheimer say about service learning. In the introduction of this passage, they talk about how service learning can "improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich educational experiences for students at all levels of schooling". I definitely agree with them on this one. As we all know, our whole class is involved in a service learning project this semester. I believe it is a good thing because it helps us learn in different ways than we normally would inside the classroom. It's more of a hands on/experience based learning; this kind of learning can not be achieved in a classroom. It shows us first hand what it will be like to be a teacher. Even though we are not officially the 'head of the classroom', it still gives us a pretty good feel as to what exactly it is like. Also, as the authors say, it does improve the community. It gives us student who are actually doing the service learning an insight as to what our community is like. I believe all of us are doing this project in Providence Public Schools, and many of us did not come from schools like these. As we know, RIC is in Providence, and for people like me it is a different community than what we grew up in. Being in the public schools of Providence really gives me an understanding as to what this areas community is like. On top of that, I also look at it as us helping the community. As we are learning and building our skills, we are also helping out the teachers as well as the students. When we are in the classroom, our knowledge helps the overall status of the classroom. It is always good to have more than one educator in a classroom, because I feel like the kids will learn more. One teacher can not help 25 students all at once, so our presence in the classroom not only helps the teacher out but helps the students out as well. They now have that extra person to go to for help. At the same time, the students get very happy when we come in. I feel as if they get so excited and look forward to seeing us every week, and them being happy is always a plus.
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I like what you wrote about here because it really puts into perspective what we are doing with our service learning. It really made me feel good about what I'm doing after I finished reading this post.
ReplyDeleteHi Wally,
ReplyDeleteI think just about all of us thought about our service learning project for this class after reading the article! You did a great job of discussing how important the project is, both for our own learning experience and for the students as well, and I agree. We are able to apply or consider what we've learned through readings and discussions while we are in our classrooms, we are learning from the experience of being with students, all while we are there helping the students.
- Jamie
Hey Wally,
ReplyDeleteI really made a connection to your personal experience this week because, like you, I did not grow up in the city, so it is a totally new atmosphere for me as well. You also summed up the importance of what we do in Service Learning extremely accurately. Like you said it is not only about the kids, but the teachers and the community as well. Looking forward to our class this morning!
Rebekah
I agree when you said that although we are not actually head of the classroom we are learning so much. I also am not from an area like Prov. and being in these schools sets a reality.
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