So as I was looking for an interesting article to post, I found a list of public service needs in our school district's communities. The list is from The Daily Herald- http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=251369&src=107. Some of the items on the list include blood drives, book drives, committe members, volunteers for different events, etc.
I think that as community members we need to try to take care of each other. I know that we all experience tough times, but I strongly support helping others if at all possible. Even giving a small amount of time, some old clothing, or a small donation, can help someone in need.
I was wondering what you thought about promoting community service in your classrooms. Do you think it is worthwhile? Easy? Necessary? In my opinion, I think that as teachers we can promote small projects like a food drive or sending letters home to bring mittens, coats, hats, etc. to school to donate. I feel that if students are immersed in this at an early age, they will be more likely to carry it through their lives. Let me know what you think!
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I've seen community service/involvement done in many ways in classrooms. When I was in high school, if you had a certain Government teacher then you had a certain number of community service hours required of you to pass his class. I believe that it is best for community involvement to be authentic and not forced. The way it was done in those government classes made it a chore or an assignment instead of because they wanted to do it. I personally get so much more out of helping others when I do it because its the right thing to do instead of as a requirement for a class or group. If I were going to included community involvement in my classroom, I would not do it as a required assignment but I would want students to participated because they want to.
I have a comment about my classroom however it was only a one time thing I saw them involved in. During Halloween our school did this thing called giving to the troops. My principal would talk about it over the announcements every morning until the day after Halloween. What it was was that for every pound of candy our school collected and gave to this one local dentist he would give our school one dollar. He was then going to send all of the candy to soldiers overseas. When my class heard about this they were so excited. One student raised his hand and said something along the lines of how people in the war don't get as much as we all do. After our Halloween party I was surprised to see how much candy our class had collected alone. I know my class is very kind but it was great to hear comments like, "I am going to give all the candy I got to the dentist" and "I will give the candy that is extra because I know I will get more when I trick or treat." It was great to see they really cared about helping out other people. I think that community service is a great thing to have in classrooms at such a young age. I also agree with Michelle that it can't be forced. However, at such a young age it is really easy to have your students participate as a class in giving to the community. For my students I know box tops are really fun for them to collect because they know they are getting money to help their school. I will always try to incorporate community services into my class whether it be in kindergarten or 8th grade.
I agree, I think it is incredibly important to include community service in the classroom. One of the biggest goals of education is to prepare students to be responsible members of their communities and the country. Like Michelle said, community service shouldn’t be forced because you don’t want to turn students off to helping others. So the question is how do you support community service without forcing it upon students? Well, in my elementary school our theme is “I choose to make a difference” and we have set up a program to get the students’ feet wet in giving back. When students help others at home, in school, or in the community they write what they did on a star cut-out and their teacher displays it outside the classroom. Every month one student is chosen by each teacher and the chosen students’ stars are displayed in the office and their names are announced. My 2nd graders LOVE displaying their stars and it makes them aware of the many ways to give back and help others. Other ideas are starting a committee or club of older students to plan community service ideas, raising money for different charities as a school (we raised money for leukemia and we did a leukemia walk), having music concerts at retirement homes, and writing letters to soldiers overseas.
I value community service in my own life, so I anticipate it being a part of my classroom as well. Here's an idea from my phase 2 mentor:
One of the trimesters my phase 2 mentors plans is based upon the theme "The Global Village." She takes the students through the book "If the world were a village." The students study the world and its differences. They talk about fairness and equality. At the end of each unit, students always expect to receive a writing assignment. For the end of this unit, she hands out the rubric with the assignment on the back. The assignment is only one line, "Make the world a better place." Because this is a GATE class, the students go crazy. They hate the lack of instruction, but every student comes out of the trimester with a great idea that they actually implement. Some students write letters, others raise money. They can do whatever they want as long as they can justify that they're making the world a better place.
I think community service is especially important in middle school and high school years. Adolescents can see themselves making a difference and validate their existence. As we know from 233, adolescents can become highly concerned with their role in the world.
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