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I’ve mentioned service learning on this blog briefly before, but never before have I had such a perfect example of what service learning is supposed to be.

In my Literature class, we read a story called “Stop the Sun,” about a Vietnam veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.  It was about the veteran’s relationship with his son.  Something about the story really hit home, and we were having an awesome discussion.  So I asked my class how many of them were related to a veteran.  Every single student raised their hand.  Surprised, I commented that we should probably do something for Veteran’s Day, since everyone in the class knew someone.

On that comment, the ideas started flying.  One student suggested creating a mural on our classroom wall that thanked our veterans.  Another immediately chimed in that it didn’t make sense to do it on the wall, since the veterans wouldn’t see it.  A third asked if we could do one out of chalk on the playground, and then take a picture from the roof of the school.  Another student suggested asking for donations with the picture.

While I watched, my students organized themselves into groups- one group worked on coming up with ideas for the banner, another group researched organizations that help veterans, and another worked on ideas for a canned food or blanket drive.banner1

With relatively little input from me, they finalized a plan- they would create a large banner that they could hang outside to thank the Veterans.  They would take a picture with this banner to send in to the newspaper, along with an explanation of the “Help Our Heroes” project, which is the canned food drive that they decided on.  They wrote e-mails to local radio stations, asking them to plug their food drive.  They created posters to hand out or hang at local grocery stores.  One young man went home and told his father, a veteran, about the entire project- and he pulled in some local support and offered to drive all of our canned goods to a homeless shelter for veterans.  He also asked his fellow veterans to spread the news about the food drive, and told me, “They love this idea- and next year they want to make it bigger.”  The students also went and spoke to the principal, using persuasive skills to convince her that this was a good project for our school to sponsor.

This is what service learning is all about- taking the skills and topics we learn about in class (the story about the soldier; letter-writing skills; persuasive speaking) and applying them to a community need, enlisting the help of community partners (like the media, or the local veteran groups).  Even more than that, it is about youth voice- about the students taking control of their own education and exercising their responsibilities as citizens.

As a teacher, my role is that of facilitator.  I am asking questions, keeping them focused, and helping them to think through potential problems.  I am constantly asking them to reflect- on how are things going so far, how can we change things to make them better, how will other people perceive the project.  But really, the project is theirs- and they are so proud of it.

Here is a picture of their finished mural (we drew it on a shower curtain, so it could resist the inclement weather).heroes2