Do you dream of the good old days when children and teens were more responsible and actually cared about helping others? If you thought those days were gone for good, then you need to learn more about Service-Learning.
Service-Learning goes beyond normal community service. It is more involved than helping out at a soup kitchen once a year or spending time visiting with elderly patients. It is not as likely to happen on an individual basis. In fact, in many areas, the types of service-learning opportunities may be quite limited. A federal agency, the Corporation for National Service is actively working to change that fact though.
Through the Learn and Serve program, the Corporation for National Service has helped approximately one million students to have the opportunity to participate in a service-learning program. The students are of a variety of ages from kindergarten to college. Not only are they spending time meeting the communities needs, but also they are supplementing that educational experience with specific curriculum and are actively reflecting upon their tasks and the outcomes of their efforts.
The communities are benefiting in many ways from these projects. They receive the direct benefit of the outcome of the tasks being performed but that is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to benefits. There are several long-term benefits. Students are more aware of the need for helping others. They are more self-assured due in part to the feeling of accomplishment that they find in helping others. They see that they have made a difference in their community. They learn that although one person may not be able to make a huge difference all the time, they can start the wheels in motion and make a difference, especially if they work together as a group for a common goal.
Now you may think that this sounds like what most of us consider community service. They are volunteering to help others in the community. The difference is that in service-learning projects, a curriculum is used to build up towards the event of helping others and time is spent reflecting over what has been learned after the actual service part of the project is over.
The emphasis is not just on doing good deeds for others, but also in using that as an opportunity to learn and grow. It is a bit more involved than simply having a group of children donate food to a food bank. Due to the amount of increased involvement, government agencies such as the Corporation for National Service offer grants and research material. They have a web-site with information on how to participate or help existing programs. If you are interested in learning more about service-learning programs or the Learn and Serve America program sponsored by the Corporation for National Service, you can find some interesting facts at www.learnandserve.org.
Although service-based learning programs may not yet be in your area, you can still take part in helping others while learning. Do a little research and exploring what resources are available concerning the educational side of your project. Use the resources to learn more about the community project you will be participating in. When the project is completed, gather with the others that were involved and discuss the outcome and what you have learned. By taking these simple steps, you can initialize your own service-learning project, which will meet your communities needs. So, feel free to go a step beyond community service to service-learning. You may be pleasantly surprised at the benefits you will receive.
