Service Learning at Community CollegesNichole Soyka, Ian Rey Sausedo, Robyn Richardson, Silvia Snyder, Lisa Steinman, Bethany

Stevens & Brandon Whitson

Welcome!

Objective

By the end of the presentation, participants will be able to explain

the benefits of service learning with a focus on working with the

special needs community -

Participants will also be able to share the positive impact service

learning has on pre-service teachers and the community alike -

both to be evidenced by a group discussion

• Everyone please make sure that you have a notecard

• On the notecard, write one thing you hope to learn or gain from this

presentation

• Keep your notecard in a safe place, we will be using them at the end

Background

• Estrella Mountain Community College of Avondale, AZ

• Future Teachers Club

• Organization of the year 2012-2013

• Service Organization of the Year 2012-2013

• Service Organization of the Year 2013-2014

• Active in community and on campus

Our Advisors

Pete Turner, PhD

&

Rachel Holmes, M.Ed.

Outline

Benefits of Service

Learning

Our Experiences

Lessons Learned

Part OneBenefits of Service Learning For Pre-Service Education Programs

Student Benefits

• Greater understanding of course

content

• Hands on opportunity (to learn what

teaching special education is all about)

• Opportunity to learn about self

• Career preparation

• One-on-one interaction with students

Community Benefits

• Community/students discover

commonalities

• Alleviate pressure from primary employees

of social service agencies

• Offer specific/targeted assistance at no

economic cost

• Reciprocal relationships

Quote from Roselyn Turner, PhD

“Students reported 'Good' to 'Great' improvement in self-

awareness, general mood - happiness and optimism,

compassion and general health - and they attributed their

improvement in these areas to 'Serving Others.’”

Part Two Our Experiences

Incorporating Service Learning into the Classroom

•Guest Speakers

•Special Education

•Principal

•Student Initiated Projects

•Phoenix Rescue Mission

•Phoenix VA

• Assignments

• Lesson Plans

• Think Pair

Share

EMCC Sample Structure

• Partnership handbook

• Structured as a mid-term assignment (8 wks)

• 1 pt project and rationale

Mid-Term

• Student-created proposals and timeline

• Students contact the organizations and complete required docs

• Facilitation of the project

• Final Refle

Creating Awareness

Down Syndrome Walk: AIDS Walk:

• Student run and created

• Students participated and

performed

• Approx. 600 community members

joined and participated

• Money donated to Special

Olympics

Dancing for Special Olympics

In early december of 2014 the members of are Future Teachers Club collected 100

complete food boxes to the project in addition to 6 moving boxes full of clothing and

3 moving boxes full of toys. The grand food totals were as follows:

1. 469 lbs of rice

2. 280 lbs of dried beans

3. 151 boxes of cereal

4. 100+ large bottles of vegetable oil

5. 30 xlg and 15 regular size boxes of condensed milk (the equivalent of over 200

gallons of milk

iChristmas

Cont. ichristmas

• Then on are break between fall and spring semesters, one of our advisors Rachel Holmes traveled

with the iChristmas non-profit organization to Mexico to hand deliver all of the food, clothing, and

toys on behalf of FTC.

• There were over 150 children (in addition to other family members) present for the festival.

• The day consisted of:

• Playing games with the children,

• Singing songs,

• Feeding the children 3 meals that were hand-prepared by Rachel and the other volunteers,

• Gift giving and sitting with Santa, food distribution to families and the orphanages, and a

clothing closet event.

Christmas Gift Extravaganza

• Maricopa Medical Center

• Students collected donated:

• Toys

• Coloring books

• Games

• Students delivered gifts to the in-patient

children the week of Christmas

Ronald McDonald House

● Cooked a meal for the 40+ people who

are living in the Cambridge Ronald

McDonald house.

● Students raised over $100 to provide

food, drinks and desserts for the families

at Ronald McDonald house.

● Donated over 10 board games to the

house for the families.

Summer Reading Program

Student populations served: • ELL

• Special Education

• Homeless students from the local shelter

• Mainstream

• Struggling Readers

Benefits for students and families: • Parents are greeted at check-in and drop off by teachers

• A full set of productions is put on at the end of two weeks for the students to

showcase their hard work

• Cost to families to participate: Free

Summer Reading Program

Authentic teaching experience in:• Classroom management and building relationships

• Lesson planning

• Setting expectations (For each other and Program)

• Parent and Teacher Interactions

• Learning to utilize resources and Work with in a teaching community

Structure of the program• 2 Week Lesson Planning and Preparing

• Differentiated lesson plans

• 2 Weeks Summer Camp with the kids

• 4 days per week (Mon-Thurs) / 7:30 am to 12:30 pm (2 sessions)

• Performance in full production 2nd Friday of camp

In front of friends and families

Lesson Plans & Field Experience

• Students write and implement lesson plans

• Introduce objectives: By the end of the lesson, SWBAT:

• Hands-on learning vs. in-class instruction

• Continuous assessment and feedback

• Student-teacher reflection and objective check

Other Service Learning Projects

• On-campus play

• “I Have A Disability, But My Disability Doesn’t Have Me”

•Guest Speakers

• Laura Chapman-Down Syndrome Network

Part ThreeLessons Learned

Lessons Learned

• Classroom management and organization of classroom environment

• Working with children with:

• Behavioral/emotional disabilities

• Physical disabilities

• Technology assistance

• Pacing/Professionalism/Pedagogy

• Implementation of lesson plans

Personal Lessons Learned

• Grown as people

• The little things

• Life changing experience

• Grown as future teachers

Summary

• Benefits of Service Learning

• Our Experiences

• Lessons Learned

Group Discussion

• Take out your notecard from the beginning of the presentation!

• We are going to have a group discussion and assessment to see if we met our

objective.

Assessment

By the end of the presentation, participants will be able to explain

the benefits of service learning as well as the positive impact service

learning has on pre-service teachers and the community alike

as evidenced by a group discussion

References

Hamner, D. (2001). Building Bridges: The Allyn & Bacon student guide to service

learning. Boston: Allyn Bacon.

Turner, R. (2014). From an interview with Dr. Roselyn Turner, PhD, by Wanda

McClendon and Chantelle Vargas, students, at Estrella Mountain

Community College in Avondale, Arizona on February 13.