Students want to be involved and they want to apply their learning to the “real world” but in many casts they are not given the opportunity to apply thier learning. This can happen for a variety of reasons such as teacher reluctance to give up control of the classroom, teacher experience, time concerns, and lack of resources. Each of these can be overcome by careful planning and front loading of the activities, but it requires the motivation of staff in order to provide students with the opportunities. When asked by colleagues if the payout is worth the return, I was unsure in my first round of activities. They were stressful, they were difficult, and they were so different from the traditional activities of many of my colleagues that it felt as though I was lost in the woods. So, I asked the students what they thought of the experience at the end, because in the end teaching should really be about the students. I was a little surprised at the responses I received from my students. Below is a small sample of student responses and while it is just a sample, there are many, many more responses that mirror the positive statement below and very few that mirror the negative statements. After looking at the student responses, I just couldn’t say no to including service learning in my curriculum plan.
When asked about whether or not I should continue doing these projects in class there are a few who say:
“Based on experience I would say no, we should not include this project anymore. Class projects like these are really stressful for some individuals. What ends up happening is one of two things. Either everyone is really motivated and we all work together like happy campers, or the most common is that only a few people do the work for the entire class and then other people take credit. It’s definitely stressful and takes a lot of time.”
“I am not against the project whatsoever though. I believe having a class try to make the world a better place is a good, positive learning experience, but it is not befitting of a Mythology class.”
“There are mixed feelings that I have with the idea of this continuing to be a part of the curriculum. On one hand I had a lot of fun doing the project and learned a lot of things about how all that stuff works, but I also wish I could learned about actual mythology. I understand how the idea of making a difference and an impact tie into heroes and stuff …but in all honesty I really wish I could have learned more about mythology.” -top-
Or some discuss the time frame of the project like this:
“I would say this is a great project to carry on with classes after this year because it truly does help us realize many life lessons depending on the project. But I would perhaps start it earlier because from what I have heard from other classes they did not have enough time to finish.”
“I think the project is a wonderful idea, and a great way to end the year. I do think, though, you should extend the time line by a bit.” -top-
But an overwhelming majority of responses say something much more like this:
“Based on my experiences through this project I think it would be a wonderful idea to continue to include this project or different types of this project in the curriculum. By doing this project not only do people get informed on problems in society, but people actually have to work together so the whole thing will work out. Although we may not have learned a lot about Mythology, I still really enjoy getting in touch with those around me so we can make this world a better place one step at a time.”
“This project was a fantastic learning experience for me and I think it would be fantastic to continue with these types of projects in the future. These projects help students learn valuable life lessons that they would not have learned otherwise.”
“This project should always be a part of the curriculum because it teaches kids how it could be worse and that helping the less fortunate is a great feeling and it should be done more often. The lessons learned in this are life changing and in some cases make people look at everything with more of an open heart and open mind.”
“I would recommend that you keep this project in your curriculum. I know that a lot of high school students have no experience in group communication or leadership so this project should be an eye opener to them. This project is an excellent way to teach leadership, real world communication, organization and teamwork. It also makes us look at what problems are out there and how we can actually try to solve them.”
“Yes, I do believe you should keep this project in the curriculum. You should keep it because it teaches people time management and how important communication is.”
“In my opinion, because I know a lot of people in my class have probably told you that you should take this out of your curriculum, I think you should keep it. It really makes us, as students, have to deal with people outside of class and it helps us realize that English will be needed far into the future. This project certainly makes students think, whether it is problem solving, or coming up with ideas.”
“Naturally, it would have been more efficient if it was completely run by the teacher, but I think it is a good experience for students to run such a project themselves as much as possible.”
“In conclusion, I would definitely recommend that you continue this project on as a mandatory part of the curriculum. At the beginning of first semester, you told us that this course would prepare us for life after high school in the real world, and I’m not sure anything we did this year did that any better then completing this project.”
“This project teaches a lot of life lessons. At the beginning, we all thought it would be easy to change the world by creating a mentoring program, but as it turns out, there are a lot of steps that you don’t even realize you need to take. This project was always making us think as problems arose. It teaches a lesson about communication and working as a team, which most students don’t get the opportunity to learn if they aren’t involved in sports or activities that involve teamwork.”
“I think this project should be required in every senior English class. It was a very important learning opportunity that most seniors have not gotten. A lot of times in high school, you’ll hear students ask, “When will I ever use this in real life?” Well, with this project, we’ve learned many things we can use in real life. We’ve learned respect and communication skills. We’ve learned how to successfully present an idea and how to follow it through. We’ve also learned time management skills. Even this portfolio is an impressive representation of what we can do. This project has been one of the most significant things I’ve done in high school. Every student should have this opportunity before they graduate.”
“I would highly recommend that you continue this project with future classes. Service learning was quite possibly, the most challenging, meaningful and “real” project that I have ever done. There are very few opportunities, in school, that student get to apply the things that they have learned in a real world situation. It brings out the true colors of an individual and pushes them to things that they had never thought possible. The good students will prevail and learn from this experience and the other student will just breeze by, not learning or accepting what they have done, just like in any other activity. Sadly, that’s just the way it is, but for those students that really need to be pushed, this is exactly what they need. It would be a waste of resources to not continue service learning in the future. If you truly want to challenge students and push them to their full, learning potential, then service learning must continue.”
“I think the project taught our class teamwork, communication skills, and also taught us what we could do to help the community at the same time. The project helped us grow academically but [also] helped us all help the community, for those reasons I believe it should be a part of the curriculum.”
“As to the future of this type of project, I say that the lessons it has to teach are sorely needed by most of the slap-happy soon-to-be grads about to be deemed ‘educated’.“
“I would 100% agree to keep doing this type of curriculum. I was proud to be apart of this project, and proud to be able to work on something that could have potentially changed the world.”
“I do think an experience like this is relevant to anyone about to enter the real world. I even think that you not offering a lot of guidance was alright, because failure and the stress that results from the fear of it are one of the most important lessons to be learned from a project like this”
“I would strongly encourage that you continue this project. Success or fail, lessons are taught along the way.”
“I do recommend including a service learning project in your curriculum for years to come. It was a very eye opening experience and valuable learning opportunity. Not only did it give me a great insight on the amplitude of this subject, but it brought each and every member of our class closer together and forced us to work as a team.”
“I hope you continue these service learning projects in the future. For students who find the right cause they will work hard to see it successful. As for the others, they miss out on a true, life lesson. This proved to the class and I we can impact the community and do anything we put our minds to.”
“I believe this would be a great project to continue for future years because I believe all of the projects that were completed had a major impact on the school.”
“With my experience with this project I strong agree that you keep this assignment. I say you should keep this assignment part of your curriculum because we honestly have no idea how big of an impact just some high school kids can have on this world. There are just so many issues we can help and try to prevent. It teaches the students how to communicate with others and work as a team and for some how to take charge when we don’t have a ton of guidance to see how we can come together and create some. It also teaches us high school student some great stuff about life. It also gets us prepared for the real world that is just shortly ahead in our feature.”
“This project has taught me a lot, and I believe this project should be a permanent part of the curriculum because it is a true eye opener. This project gets students actively involved with their schoolwork and with their classmates. This teaches lessons on how to act in the real world, and especially in a good work environment.”
“From this project, I learned a lot about myself and my skills as a leader. Communication was a key component in making this whole project successful and, I believe, my skills to communicate with whomever I needed to contact affected the outcome of this project in a major way. Having a large leadership role throughout this project definitely gave me a new perspective on how I can accomplish my goals in the future. Doing this project has changed me as person.” -top-
Expert Testimony
Sometimes the expert in the classroom has to be the teacher, but sometimes the experts in the classroom are the students. I have been taught many lessons by my students and I have learned that it is often times a good idea to ask them about their experiences in my class because they are the experts in terms of the perceived value of the education they receive.
This page is dedicated to the expert testimony of my students as they explain the value that they find in the service learning projects that I include in my classroom.