Middle School
Miss Colleen, Mr. John, and Mrs. Gibson
Email:
ccarlson@golikethewind.com - Colleen
“Why the Middle School includes Service Learning as a part of our
Curriculum?”
Service learning provides concrete learning
experiences for students at a time when they are in desperate need of work that
is real and tangible. The elements of service learning provide adolescents with
valid and essential experiences and without these experiences, both the child
and society suffer.
In 1996, President Clinton urged American schools to
create an environment that engages students in community service as a matter of
ethics, rather than as a matter of credit. After the attacks of September 11,
2001, President Bush reissued the call to action with the USA Act of 2001. This
Act, “. . . unit[es] Americans in service to their communities and to one
another” (Corporation for National and Community Service, 6).
It is important to clarify what, exactly, service
learning is and what it looks like within the sphere of education. In a well
organized and initiated service learning program, students will learn the
following: what their communities need; the financial requirements of community
projects and how to manage them; the elements of effective group work; project
and personal analysis; the relationship between classroom work and its
real-world applications; and finally, what it means to be an active member of a
community. Perhaps the most urgent of these requirements is the organization
and planning of these projects. Often lack of planning results in projects that
do little more than create busy work for already busy students, teachers, and
community members.
Regarding the developmental benefits specific to
adolescents, Maria Montessori, in From Childhood to Adolescence, states
that:
There is a need to realize the
value of work in all its forms, whether manual
or intellectual, to be called
“mate,” to have a sympathetic understanding of all
forms of activity. Education
should, therefore, include the two forms of work,
manual and intellectual, for the
same person, and thus make it understood by
practical experience that those
two kinds complete each other and are equally
essential to a civilized existence
(65).
In addition, early adolescents, because they are in
the process of learning who they are and what they stand for, have a hard time
giving academics priority over personal and social issues. Service learning
programs meet the intellectual/cognitive needs of the adolescent by giving
students the opportunity to extend and expand their academics in a social
environment that supports identity development.
Schools today are under intense scrutiny by parents,
politicians and community members. The expectation is that students graduating
from high school should be ready to become active members of our business and
social communities. Classroom-only experiences will fail to prepare the
students for the real-life issues and conditions they will see as adults. At
some point, a school community will simply need to make the choice to offer a
service-learning component in its curriculum. Students will not automatically
develop a concern for their community, apply mathematical and scientific
knowledge to practical situations, or work well in groups. If we wish our
students to possess these skills, we will need to teach them.
References:
Coe, Elisabeth. “Intellectual/Cognitive Characteristics.”
Corporation for National and Community Service. “Students
in Service to America.”
Washington, D.C., 2002.
Montessori, Maria. From Childhood to Adolescence.
ABC-Clio. Oxford, England, 1994.
O’Neill, Margaret. “Service X 2: Service Learning Benefits
Both Students and
Community.” National Association of Secondary School Principals. Reston,
VA,
2003.
