Service-Learning

Lisa Kipersztok, VISTAService Learning Department

Anne Arundel County Public Schools

A statewide requirement that benefits all!

What is Service-Learning?Service-learning is a teaching method that combines meaningful service to the community with curriculum-based learning. Students improve

academic skills by applying what they learn in school to real world issues; they then reflect on their experience to reinforce the link between their service and their learning

Maryland’s Service-Learning Mission

It is the mission of Maryland State Department of Education’s service-

learning program to institutionalize high quality

service-learning for students in all Maryland K-12 public schools, and

to encourage its application in schools across the United States.

Maryland Seven Best Practices

of Service-Learning1. Meet a recognized need in the

community

2. Achieve curricular objectives through service-learning

3. Reflect throughout the service-learning experience

4. Develop student responsibility

5. Establish community partnerships

6. Plan ahead for service-learning

7. Equip students with knowledge and skills needed for service

Code of Maryland Regulation Students shall complete one of the

following: 75 hours of student service that

includes preparation, action, and reflection components and that, at the discretion of the local school system, may begin during the middle grades; or

A locally designed program of student service that has been approved by the State Superintendent of Schools.

Service-Learning in Anne Arundel County

75 hours required in order to graduate:

75

75

5 hours are done in elementary school in the 5th grade30 hours are done in middle school

10 in 6th grade

10 in 7th grade

10 in 8th grade

40 hours are done in high school10 in US Government (9th/11th)10 in Health (9th / 10th)10 in Science (10th)10 in English (11th)

Average Student Retention Rates

Why Service-Learning? Improved Academic Achievement and Engagement* Increased Positive Civic Attitudes and Behaviors* Enhanced Social and Personal Skills* Benefited a wide range of youth** Improved academic achievement** Helped students learn useful skills** Positive impact on certain risk behaviors**

*Corporation for National and Community Service**Brandeis University Service-Learning Study

Service-Learning has three parts:

1.PREPARATION & RESEARCH

2. ACTION

3. REFLECTION

How does service-learning work?

Types of Service

Direct ServiceTutoring, Mentoring,Visiting the Elderly

Indirect ServiceDrives, Collections, Fundraisers, Clean-ups

AdvocacyLobbying, Speaking, Presenting

Reflection

To explore the impact and importance of citizen service to the community

To understand how to learn from experience To develop a language of caring and commitment To instill habits of participation as an expectation of

citizenship Attend to broader issues as well as personal experience Encourage creativity Use diverse activities Have students structure some of the reflection sessions

“The service you do for others is the rent you pay for the time you spend on earth.”

- Muhammed Ali

“You make a living by what you get.

You make a life by what you give."

-- Winston Churchill

 “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

“How wonderful is it that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

- Anne Frank

“Thought without practice is empty, practice without thought is blind.”

-Kwame Nkkrumah